


Belonging

by anaceattorney



Series: Please get these children therapy [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, can you tell how much I hate rasa?, the family that pranks together stays together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2020-12-01 23:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 51,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20931293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaceattorney/pseuds/anaceattorney
Summary: Iruka did not know how he ended up as the caretaker to the Kazekage's youngest, but here he is and he is going to make the most of it. The Kazekage certainly wasn't going to look after his children.(Basically, Iruka's parents settled in Sand instead of Leaf but Iruka still adopts any child without a responsible parental figure.)





	1. Chapter 1

“Iruka Umino, the Kazekage wants to see you.”

Iruka flinched, not expecting an anbu to appear directly in front of him as he was walking home from turning in his latest mission report. He glanced around widely hoping someone else would appear with the exact same name as him and respond to the summons.

“Right away?” he hesitantly questioned, still feeling like this was all a bad dream.

“Yes,” the anbu stated before disappearing in a swirl of sand. Iruka sighed and turned back towards the center of the village, trying to contain the shaking of his hands. He desperately thought about what he could have done that lead the Kazekage to summon him. But he could not come up with anything. For the past few years he had done exactly as his parents had told him to before their deaths: kept his head down, completed missions to the best of his abilities, and tried to prove his loyalty to Sand every day. 

The village was not particularly welcoming to outsiders and, as his parents had reminded him frequently, they were lucky to even be accepted when they fled Mist. Whenever Iruka complained that no one at school liked him or the teachers did not pay attention to him, his father would ruffle his hair and tell him to hang in there, that it would get better eventually. His mother would offer to help him with his aim and teach him more advanced seals. 

Iruka shook himself out of his trip down memory lane as he entered the building where the Kazekage’s office was. As he approached the door of the office, the Kazekage’s assistant told him to go in, “He’s been expecting you.”

Iruka gulped before trying to get his emotions under control. That certainly sounded ominous. 

He quietly let himself in and observed the Kazekage sitting at his desk, filling out a small mountain of paperwork, which had only been multiplying since the Kazekage’s brother-in-law, Yashamaru, was not longer around to help.

He stood in silence until the Kazekage looked up.

“Ah good, Umino, you are here.”

Iruka bowed, “Sir.”

“Let’s get straight to business. I have been reviewing your missions and believe you are not sufficiently contributing to the village,” the Kazekage stated, staring directly into Iruka’s eyes.

Iruka flinched, feeling like his worst nightmare had come true. He knew he was not the best at combat- no bloodline techniques, too small chakra reserves, and honestly a lack of killer instinct. He excelled at seals, barriers, and traps but those did not receive the positive recognition flashy jutsus did except if you were an Uzumaki. Iruka knew he would never make jonin but hoped that he was doing enough by regularly taking escort and carrier missions.

“I took a risk allowing your parents to settle here and they promised to not make me regret it,” the Kazekage continued. “They were useful for many missions. You not so much.”

Iruka bowed his head, not knowing how to respond. Was this the part where an anbu appeared to dispose of him? Was he even worth killing or would they just leave him in stranded the desert?

“However, I believe I do have a task that you would be suited for."

Iruka’s head snapped up, “Of course, what would that be, sir?”

“I will take you off of regular missions and change your status to that of a village shinobi.” The Kazekage looked over him with a critical eye, “I believe you would be a suitable caretaker for my youngest, Gaara.”

Iruka felt like he had been struck by lightning. “Sir…I don’t; know if I am the best person for that job.”

“The Kazekage raised his eyebrow, “Surely you are not trying to argue with me when I am graciously giving you another chance to make yourself useful?” He did not even have to raise his hand to signal the anbu were lurking to make the threat clear- obey or be disposed of.

“No, no. I misspoke. Thank you for extending this opportunity to me,” Iruka tried to backtrack as quickly as possible.

“Hm. See that you remember it. You will be expected to start your duties tomorrow morning. My secretary can give you the details. You are dismissed,” the Kazekage concluded, already returning to his paperwork.

Iruka bowed once more before hurrying out of the office under the watchful eye of the anbu. He stopped by the secretary’s desk to retrieve the “mission” information then went home.

After Iruka finished his dinner, he lingered at the table wondering if he should write a will. Looking around at his crappy apartment, with the only things of value being the photos of his parents and some of the sealing books, he decided against it. 

“Besides, it’s not like I have any friends who I would leave things to,” Iruka muttered. He sighed again wandering how quickly everything could change. Last night, he was coming back from a standard mission, wondering if he could afford ramen and if he should submit an application to teach at the academy. Iruka had always wanted to work with kids, but doubted anyone who trust him, an outsider, with Sand’s future. “Well, I guess I am getting my wish in a roundabout way.” He ignored the part inside of him that questioned whether the monster that was the Kazekage’s son could even be called a child considering the body count he had already acquited. He decided that nothing constructive would be accomplished by that line of thought and went to bed.

“Mom, mom, look they have fish!!!” An eleven-year-old Iruka exclaimed. Fish was a rare treat here in Sand and was one of the things Iruka missed the most about Mist. His mother smiled, “Well now that is a surprise. What to help your father make it tonight?”

Iruka nodded, “Will he be back by then?”

“Well I don’t know it’s a pretty long journey from here to home,” his father’s voice rang out from behind them. Iruka whirled around and ran to give his father a hug.

“You’re back! Did the mission go well? Did you fight anyone? Did you see any interesting animals?”

“Slow down, Iruka.” His father commented, ruffling his hair. “We have time.” 

Iruka’s mother had just finished buying the fish and walked over to join them. “Hello, dear, safe trip?”

Iruka’s father nodded. “I think you might have had the more difficult job keeping Iruka in check.” Ignoring Iruka’s disgruntled “Hey!” in the background his mother laughed. “True enough. Good luck since it’s your turn now.” Just then a loud noise came from around the corner. Iruka’s parents, along with other shinobi nearby, tensed immediately. What looked like a small sandstorm began forming.

“Iruka, take our purchases and go home immediately,” his mother commanded.

“But- “ 

“No. Go” Iruka pouted but listened. Heading home as fast as he could. He waited for what felt like hours, practicing with kunai and sending increasingly frantic looks out the window. Finally, just before his usual bedtime, his parents stumbled in, bleeding. 

“Mom! Dad!” 

“It’s alright, Iruka. Could you fetch the med kit?” His father requested while moving slowly towards a chair. Iruka did as he was bid and helped his parents clean their wounds.

“What happened? Did enemy nin invade?”

His mother shook her head tiredly, “No, there was simply an incident with the Kazekage’s youngest.”

“What could he do. Isn’t he three?” Iruka questioned.

“Don’t worry about it,’ his father replied. “No isn’t it time for pre-genin to get to bed?”

Iruka sighed, “Fine. Don’t tell me anything.”

His parents laughed, used to his antics. They both kissed him on the forehead before sending him off to sleep.

Iruka jolted upright, breathing heavily from his nightmare. He was not surprised this dream had made its reappearance now. He wondered why his mind chose to replay that incident over and over again, considering it was not when his parents died. But he guessed it was the first time he became aware of the threat the Kazekage’s youngest posed.

Iruka breathed deeply in an attempt to calm himself and when that didn’t work, he started reviewing everything he knew about the Kaxekage’s children in an attempt to distract himself. It was not much, considering he had only seen them from a distance a few times. His daughter was 8 or 9 and seemed to have a wind nature, considering she already carried a fan. His oldest son was maybe 7 and seemed quite taken with puppets. And finally, the youngest child. The one for whom Iruka was the main caretaker starting today. He wondered idly how long that would last. Ever since the demon child had killed Yashamaru, he seemed to kill off caretakers quickly. Iruka gave himself three weeks before he would be reunited with his parents and that was probably due to his persistent optimistic streak. 

Iruka came to an abrupt holt in front of the doorway of a small house on the edge of the village. It looked relatively unassuming until one noticed that there were no close neighbors. Iruka had heard rumors that the Kazakage had had this house built for his youngest and that anbu regularly patrolled it. Iruka knocked quietly, figuring there was no use wasting any more time. To his surprise, an anbu opened the door. Iruka had never seen one so close before.

“Good, you’re here. Please follow me and I will tell you everything you need to know,” the anbu instructed.

Iruka nodded mutely and hurried after the anbu. Glancing around the house, Iruka noticed it contained only basic furnishings. No toys signaled the presence of a child. The anbu brought him into the kitchen area.

“You, Iruka Umino, are the primary caretaker of Gaara.” The “for now” was implied. Iruka got the impression that the anbu did not have his optimistic streak and gave him a week at most. “You will live with him here and see to his needs. That includes cooking and keeping him away from the rest of the village.” 

Iruka raised his eyebrow at that but decided not to comment. “I understand.”

“Good. Now if that is all, I will take my leave,” the anbu rose.

"Wait-“Iruka started, “what about the other children?”

The anbu tilted his head, “They are not your concern and you will not have reason to see them since they do not live here.”

“Oh.” Iruka had been desperately hoping for some sort of buffer between him and his charge but that was in vain. 

The anbu nodded and turned to leave before stopping. “It is your duty to control Gaara. Should anything happen and you are not already dead, your life will be forfeit by order of the Kazekage. So do not run off to try and avoid your responsibilities.”

Well, Iruka thought a little hysterically, there goes that option. The anbu disappeared in a shower of sand before Iruka could say anything else. Which was probably for the best, considering he was having to suppress in the urge to either start laughing hysterically or burst into tears. He stood, griping the kitchen counter for a few moments longer, before deciding that there was no use just standing around. This was not a job he wanted, and he may not live long while doing it, but he was going to show the Kazekage that he was loyal to the village while he still could.

Iruka nodded and went to check the provisions. The refrigerator and cabinets were surprisingly well-stocked and Iruka made up his mind to make breakfast before he would even think about interacting with his ward. Besides the kid was probably still asleep anyway. Nodding, Iruka went through the familiar motions of making miso soup and turning on the rice cooker. Feeling slightly calmer as he stirred, he tried to convince himself that maybe this would not be so bad after all. Gaara was just a kid, wasn’t he? Regardless of what he had sealed inside him. Iruka had always been good with children.

“Who are you?” And just like that all of Iruka’s positive thinking and internal pep talks went out the window. He turned around slowly to face a small red-headed boy who looked like he had not slept in years.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first interactions between Iruka and Gaara.

Iruka’s mind went completely blank. What do you say to a small child who has probably killed more people in his 6 years of life, than Iruka has in his 15? However, Iruka’s internal freak-out session was interpreted by the sound of sand gathering. “I’m Iruka Umino,” Iruka introduced himself hurriedly. “I am going to be your caretaker from on.” Mustering his best smile, Iruka looked down at the boy.

Gaara stared up at him without any change in expression for a minute. As Iruka desperately cast his mind around for some way to continue the conversation, Gaara finally spoke. “You won’t last long. Mother demands blood and I have to keep her happy.” Brushing past Iruka who had frozen in the doorway, Gaara continued into the kitchen. Iruka firmly decided that he was going to shove that dire prediction and the terror it inspired in him into a neat box and not think about it for as long as possible

He followed Gaara into the kitchen, hurrying over to check on the soup. ‘Are you hungry?

Gaara nodded. “You can cook?”

Iruka was taken aback- who exactly had been watching over this kid that he thought cooking was a revolutionary skill? “Yes. I am by no means an expert, but I can make most simple dishes and some more complicated ones from my homeland.” Iruka did not know why he was oversharing to this degree, but it was one way to fill the charged silence. 

“No one has cooked for me since Yashamaru,” Gaara stated. Again, Iruka was taken aback. Was the comparison to his uncle a positive sign? He wasn’t sure considering Gaara had ended up killing Yashamaru. That certainly explained the amount of instant meals in the cabinets. 

“Well as long as I am here, I can cook,” Iruka told him. Gaining no response to that, he questioned, “Did you sleep well?” That was a safe topic, right?

“I cannot sleep.” Apparently not when your charge has a demon inside of him. What am I supposed to do about that? The Kazekage made it clear that I was responsible for Gaara and whatever damage he caused. And I need sleep. Do I seal him inside the house during the night? Iruka side eyed Gaara, deciding he would probably not like that and was likely to express his displeasure through murder or maiming. Let’s just make it through the day first and then I can worry about what to do at night, Iruka decided.

However, Iruka realized, he had no idea what Gaara usually did during the day. Considering one of his only orders was to keep him away from the rest of the village, he very much doubted he attended the academy. The anbu’s information was not very helpful nor was the packet he received from the mission desk. It had told him the time length (unspecified), the duties (as assigned), and the penalty for failing (death). So not very helpful for anything except raising Iruka’s anxiety levels. Figuring there was only one way to find out, he turned to Gaara. “What do you usually do during the day?”

“It depends. Some days Mother is angry. On those days I have to give her blood to appease her. When she is quiet, I wander the desert,” Gaara responded, slowly eating his breakfast.

Iruka had just accepted the fact that he was not going to like a single answer he got out of this kid. Also, what was mother? At first, Iruka had just thought Gaara had coped with the absence of a parental figure by pretending his mother spoke to him. Now he wondered if it wasn’t the One-tails influencing Gaara. He had heard his parents complain about the seal enough times to know that it was not stable. His parents worried that it allowed to much of the One-tails through and had been working on a way to fix it before their deaths. 

“Let’s go on a walk after breakfast then.” Deciding that was the least concerning option available to him, Iruka jumped on that. He wondered if he could get some games or toys for Gaara to play with. So far, all he seemed to have was his clothes and a teddy bear. 

Gaara finished his breakfast in silence before heading towards the door. Iruka quickly made sure everything was turned off before following him. He didn’t know what would happen to him if he managed to burn down the house on this first day, but he figured it would not be anything good. He also grabbed some water canteens and ration bars on the way out the door. Gaara had already set out away from the village by the time Iruka joined him. They walked in silence until the village could no longer be seen. Iruka hoped Gaara knew his way back. Although he could navigate the desert if pressed, he never got over the belief that all sand looked the same which severely hampered his sense of direction. 

Since Gaara did not seem to have a particular destination in mind, Iruka was content to just walk beside him.

“Oh, a blooming cactus,” Iruka observed. He had always loved cacti, finding their perseverance beautiful. This particular cactus was large, a little taller than Iruka and had a pink flower blooming on the top. “Do you know how cacti store water?” And then Iruka was off babbling again. He really should do something about his habit of being a nervous talker. However, glancing over at Gaara, Iruka noticed he did not seem annoyed, merely… thoughtful? It was hard to tell since his face changed so little and Iruka did not know him well enough to decipher his limited expressions.

Well if recounting his incredibly detailed knowledge of desert flora was enough to keep the disquieting kid calm, Iruka would do just that. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do. Besides, it had been years since someone had been willing to listen to Iruka talk about his odd obsessions and he had to admit he had kind of missed it. When Iruka had first arrived in Sand, he thought it to be a wasteland. So used to the waters and lush greens of his home country, he thought he would never find beauty here. But once his parents had made it clear that they were here to stay, he forced himself to learn about local plants, hoping a familiar topic would help him adjust. So Iruka now knew more about cacti and other desert plants than most. Some of his classmates had mocked him for being interested not just in their practical utility, but in everything he could learn. Gaara, however, did not seem to mind when Iruka moved to talking about mechanisms of cross-breeding and what flowers he found the prettiest. 

Iruka convinced Gaara to take a break to drink some water and eat a ration bar around lunchtime. Afterward they continued their hike, with Iruka keeping up a string of chatter while Gaara remained mostly silent. When they returned to the house, Iruka made dinner. Then he had to address the problem he had put off earlier.

“Gaara? What do you do during the night if you cannot sleep?"

Gaara shrugged. “Father says I am not allowed to go outside at night. I listen to Mother if she is awake. Otherwise, I just sit.”

Well that was about as concerning as Iruka thought it was going to be. The more Gaara talk about “Mother”, the more Iruka wondered if what he was hearing was the One-tail’s voice due to his faulty seal. At least confident that Gaara would not leave and cause damage without him knowing about it, Iruka went to bed. He could go a few nights without sleep, but he would eventually need it, so he might as well start a routine right from the start. It took him a while to fall asleep, since he could hear Gaara in the next room, shuffling around and muttering to himself. Iruka’s final thought before falling asleep was, if he kills me in my sleep, at least I won’t have to do this tomorrow. 

Surprisingly enough, Iruka awoke the next day, alive and whole. He had also made it through the night without waking up from nightmares, which was even more surprising. He rose, got dressed, and began breakfast. Gaara joined him shortly thereafter. And so, a routine was established. For the next week, Iruka would wake up, double-check that he was still in one piece, make breakfast, and wait for Gaara to join him. The two of them would wander the desert together, breaking at mid-day for a small meal with plenty of water breaks. Iruka would talk about anything and everything while Gaara listened. Sometimes Iruka would notice that the sand around them would react to Gaara when he became upset. Then near sunset, they would return to their little house and Iruka would cook dinner before turning in for the night. He was not sure if he was doing what he was supposed to but neither Gaara nor an anbu had killed him yet so he figured he must be doing alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a firm believer in the idea that if Gaara had a single positive influence in his life (who wasn't instructed to try to MURDER him, what the fuck, Rasa?) he would have latched onto them and controlled his murder sprees, to the extent that he could.


	3. Chapter 3

As much as he tried not to, Iruka was getting attached to Gaara. The kid obviously had no clue how to interact with others, which was not surprising considering his father kept him away from the rest of the village. But he was also desperately lonely even if he would not admit it. He always hung around whatever room Iruka happened to be in at the time, to the extent that Iruka had woken up to find him sitting in the corner of his room, staring at him a few times. Iruka decided to take that as “in a desperate need of human contact” and not “plotting the best way to kill me” for his own sanity. Since he was always in the kitchen when Iruka was cooking, the teen started teaching him simple cooking tricks, by just saying what he is doing and why aloud.

Once a week had passed with no communication from the Kazekage and no murder attempts by Gaara, Iruka decided this assignment (and his lifespan) might last longer than originally anticipated. In light of this discovery, he made an effort to get to know Gaara more.

During one of their lunch breaks, Iruka asked “Other than wander around here, what do you like to do? What types of games do you like?”

Gaara looked confused, “Games?”

“Yes, games. You know, that you play with your friends.” Or anyone who would put up with you, a nasty voice in the back of Iruka’s mind whispered. “I was always particularly good at hide-and-seek.”

Gaara shook his head, “I do not have friends. I only need Mother.”

So not only was Iruka’s charge an insomniac with a demon sealed (badly) inside of him, he also had no idea about social interaction. This job just keeps getting better and better, Iruka thought bitterly. No matter how much he resented Gaara for all that he had taken away from him (and then hated himself because he knew it was not the kid’s fault), Iruka could not help but sympathize with the kid. He knew what it was like to feel all alone and like no one cared about you. It wouldn’t hurt to treat him more like a normal kid for his remaining time as his caretaker, right? With this in mind, Iruka remarked to Gaara that they should head back. 

When they got back to the house, Iruka made lunch and then asked Gaara if he had any toys. Looking bewildered, Gaara nodded before producing the beat-up teddy bear Iruka had seen earlier and a rubber ball. Not much to work with but Iruka doubted the Kazekage would be pleased if he brought Gaara into the village proper to get toys or left him alone while he went to market. Instead, Iruka convinced Gaara to come out back with him and throw the ball back and forth. Almost immediately, it became incredibly obvious that Gaara had never done anything like this before.

After the fourth time in a row that Gaara had missed the ball, the sand around him began to get agitated. Iruka wondered if he should stop before things got out of hand, but also thought that might do more harm than good. If he was trying to teach Gaara how regular people acted, he could not stop at the first sign of danger or frustration. He approached the kid, trying to not show his hesitations.

“You know, it took me over 50 tries to get me a simple seal right when my parents started teaching me them.”

Gaara cocked his head, obviously not understanding how that related to the current situation. But the sand had calmed down, so Iruka counted that as a win.

“What I mean is nobody gets everything right the first time they try it. You said that you have not played catch before, right? That just means you need more practice, not that you cannot do it. We can practice every day after lunch, alright? It will get easier,” Iruka tried to reassure his young charge.

“Will you stick around that long?” Gaara looked questioningly up at Iruka. “Since I killed Uncle Yashamaru no one has stuck around long.” Iruka wondered if he should tell Gaara that he would stay as long as Gaara did not murder him. Gaara’s next words, however, stopped him short. “Won’t Father tell you to kill me before that?”

“What?!” Iruka exclaimed.

Gaara nodded as if talking about your father order your caretakers to murder you was an everyday occurrence. “They all failed, and I killed them to satisfy Mother. Uncle Yashamaru said she did not love me, that no one did, but I still hear a voice in my head demanding blood. Maybe if I give her what she wants she won’t leave me like everyone else. You don’t seem as strong as they were and I thought that was why you were trying to get along with me, so I would let my guard down. But Mother always protects me. You will fail.”

Apparently feeling he had said what he needed to say, Gaara went to retrieve the ball. Iruka stood there, dumbstruck. He knew the Kazekage was not a particularly warm man or involved father, particularly with his youngest, but to actually go so far as to try and kill a 6-year-old multiple times? No wonder Gaara reacted violently to everyone around him if he expected everyone to eventually try and kill him.

The pair finished the rest of the day without saying anything further on the subject. However, Iruka’s mind was a whirlwind trying to figure out how to make sense of this new information. Why did the Kazekage chose Iruka for this job? As Gaara had pointed out, he was not particularly strong. Why did none of the information he received mentioned this? Iruka decided he was probably meant as a method to buy time for the Kazekage to select another assassin/caretaker. And didn’t that combination make his head hurt? They were all shinobi and even those who mostly stayed in the village had killed someone at some point but Iruka always hated the idea of murdering children, even if it was necessary for a mission. Now to hear that his Kazekage was trying to kill his own child… He could not make sense of it. Even setting aside the idea that parents should not hurt their children; Jinchurki were assets to their villages. With a little training and a better seal, Gaara could be a protective force for Suna. But no, the Kazekage, in his eternal wisdom, had deemed Gaara a failed experiment and decided to start over. As if Gaara had no value beyond his worth to the village. As if Kasaru, who Iruka remembered as kind, strong, and fierce from the few times he saw her, had not sacrificed so much to bring Gaara into the world.

Which reminded Iruka of something he had overlooked in contemplating all of the terrible things he had just learned. Didn’t Gaara say something about Yashamaru telling him his mother did not love him? Iruka had always thought Yashamaru was fond of his nephew and remembered hearing him arguing with the Kazekage that this was not the fate his sister would have wanted for her son one time when he was working late organizing files. So, where did Gaara get the idea that his mother and uncle hated him? He resolved to broach the subject gently with Gaara when he had a chance. Also, he should probably tell Gaara that he was not intending to kill him. Ever. He could not believe he did not address that as soon as Gaara said it. “In the morning, Iruka. You can do it in the morning when you are not so tired that you would just end up saying the wrong thing."

Iruka eventually drifted off into a fitful sleep. Of course, this was the night his nightmares came back with a vengeance.

Iruka was 13 now and had just been assigned to his genin team. They were nice enough, he supposed, but his teammates obviously had no interest in being close friends with an outsider and his jonin teacher was not too fond of him either. But Iruka was learning new jutsus and his parents were continuing his sealing lessons, so he really did not have much to complain about, he tried to convince himself. He returned home from a D-rank mission, surprised to see his parents packing their sealing supplies.

“Mom, Dad, what’s going on?”

His mother smiled and crouched down in front of him, “Hey sweetheart, your father and I have a mission to work on a seal for the Kazekage. We will still be in the village, but you might have to cook dinner for yourself a few times this week because we are going to be really busy.”

Iruka wrinkled his nose, making his parents laugh. “Fine, good luck with your seal. Will you teach me all about it when you get back?”

His father ruffled his hair, “We’ll do you one better.” He rifled through the stack of papers that was on their kitchen table. “Here is a picture of the seal we are trying to fix. Why don’t you look over it this week and when we get back, you can tell us what you think it does and what we could do to fix it.”

Iruka was overjoyed. This was the most advanced seal he had ever seen. He couldn’t wait to examine it and then discuss it with his parents.

“Now, Iruka, don’t show that seal to anyone else. It is important for the safety of the village,” his mother lectured him. Was it a barrier of some kind or a special battle technique that his parents were helping to develop? Iruka daydreamed, already deep in thought.

“Good-bye, Iruka. Behave yourself and don’t stay up too late puzzling on this,” his father reminded him.

Iruka nodded, “I promise.”

His mother nodded, “Good and remember to make yourself some vegetables, not just ramen.”

Iruka rolled his eyes but agreed. “Bye, mom. Bye, dad. Good luck and love you,” he shouted as they left.

His parents waved and told him they loved him too before heading out. Iruka had no idea that was the last time he would ever see them.

“Wake up, wake up,” Iruka jolted awake, hearing Gaara’s voice sound near hysterical. The boy was right next to him with his hand on his arm, shaking him lightly. 

Iruka smiled reassuringly, “I’m alright. Sorry for scaring you.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Gaara protested. Iruka smiled despite himself. Gaara sounded like any other young child protesting being called afraid. Over the past few weeks, Iruka learned to rejoice over every moment when Gaara acted his age.

“My mistake. But regardless, I am fine and will start breakfast momentarily.” Iruka got up and stretched, used to Gaara silently observing him at this point. But this morning Garra broke routine.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Gaara inquired hesitantly. Before Iruka could respond, he continued, “Uncle Yashamaru said that shinobi get them sometimes because of everything they have seen. He said to be careful when dealing with someone having nightmares because they could hurt their allies without realizing it. But I figured you couldn’t hurt me, and you looked distressed.”

Gaara, Iruka noted, repeated the advice from his Uncle as if the Sage of the Six Paths himself had told him it. He really needed to get to the bottom of what happened between Gaara and his Uncle before his death because Gaara still obviously held great affection for the man. The rest of what Gaara said finally processed. Iruka had to restrain himself from scooping the boy up into a hug and cooing at him. He decided to interpret Gaara’s comment as he trusted Iruka wouldn’t hurt not couldn’t because he didn’t know if his ego could take a six-year-old dismissing his combat capabilities (although based on how wary the anbu was of Gaara, he probably wasn’t wrong). But more importantly, Gaara willingly considered Iruka’s emotions and tried to help him. This was progress and Iruka was going to reward it.

“Gaara, what’s your favorite food?”

Gaara tilted his head, “Favorite?”

“Yes, what food do you like more than others?” Iruka asked again, confused about Gaara’s confusion. Didn’t all kids gravitate towards certain foods and protest others? Iruka knew he certainly did, with a marked preference for ramen and anything that had fish in it.

“I don’t need to have such preferences. I am not like other people,” Gaara explained. From anyone else, Iruka would take it as a statement of arrogance, but Gaara said it like he was lacking something others possessed.

Iruka reached out and ruffled Gaara’s hair like his father would do to him when he said something about feeling like he was never good enough. Both they and the sand rising behind Gaara frozen. Oh shit, Iruka thought. I really did not think this through. But as usual, he decided to follow through his actions, no matter how much trouble he could get in. He withdrew his hand and knelt down, so he was at eye-level with Gaara. “Everyone deserves to have favorite things. They help keep us sane and happy. Small things can make a big difference. It’s not about what we think we deserve, but about learning to continue on even when things are hard and finding joy where we can.” Iruka did not quite know where he was going with this but figured Gaara needed to hear it.

Gaara looked like this idea did not compute for him, but he did not know quite how to protest it. At least the sand around him had settled.

“Why don’t you go ahead to the kitchen and I’ll join you in a minute,” Iruka prompted. “We can make breakfast together.” Gaara nodded and withdrew into the hallway, glancing back over his shoulder, as if to make sure Iruka is still there. Iruka smiled reassuringly.

Once Gaara had left, Iruka let out a deep breath. Suddenly, the dream he had pushed to the back of his mind while conversing with Gaara came rushing back to him. Eventually, Iruka knew he needed to process the fact that the kid he was caring for and growing attached to was the same person who killed his parents. But as much as Iruka knew that shoving that to the back of his mind was not healthy, he did not know how else to deal with it. He had never really processed his parents’ deaths, just keep going. How could he when he didn’t even know what happened? All he knew was that a couple of days after they had gone to work on a seal for the Kazekage, a worker from the Kazekage’s office had shown up at his house and told him his parents were dead. He did not get any details about what happened or even know what was done with their bodies. It was not until a couple of years later when he heard rumors about the Kazekage’s youngest that he put the pieces together. For the last three years, Iruka had hatred Gaara because he could not allow himself to hate the Kazekage who (badly) sealed a demon inside his own son and then sent his parents to their death to try and fix his mistake. But the more time Iruka spent with Gaara, the less he found himself able to blame him for his father’s sins.

Hating the Kazekage, isn’t treason in and of itself, right? Iruka tried to convince himself. He had to be loyal to Sand because his parents had sacrificed everything to get him out of Mist, to a place where his only way to become a shinobi was not through spilling the blood of his comrades. If Iruka did not love his village and was not happy, what was their sacrifice worth? So Iruka tried his best to find happiness in Sand for his parents’ sake. If he let go of that and let himself feel all the despair and resentment he had pushed down for years, where would he be? Who would he be? Iruka pushed back that line of thought. This is no time to think about that, he scolded himself. His method had worked so far, why question it now? The village’s treatment of Gaara was just another thing Iruka had to rationalize and then put out of his mind in order to get through the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In canon, Iruka had support systems in place to help him process his parents' deaths and move forward. Here, he had no one. Also, their deaths are a lot fresher for him here than in canon since I aged him down a few years. Iruka's trying to help Gaara work through his mountain of issues while refusing to acknowledge his own issues, most of which relate to Gaara in some way. Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right?
> 
> I just realized that I am basically outsourcing my anxiety and tendency to get caught up in my own head onto Iruka. So sorry for the long internal monologues, but a lot of this fic is about Iruka processing his parents' deaths and other feelings and I don't know a better way to demonstrate that.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please leaves kudos/ comments!


	4. Chapter 4

After they made breakfast, instead of heading towards the desert like they usually did, Gaara grabbed a ball and walked towards the stretch of sand they usually played on. Bemused by this change in routine, Iruka followed. Gaara turned and stared intently at Iruka. “This way we do not have to leave.”

Confused by this non sequitur, Iruka raised his eyebrow.

Gaara had apparently picked up on facial expressions enough over the past few weeks to understand Iruka’s confusion. “You were talking in your sleep. Right before you woke up, you kept saying ‘don’t’ leave, don’t leave.’”

Iruka winced. He thought he had stopped talking during nightmares years ago, once one of his genin teammates had mocked him for it. However, he still did not understand why Gaara was changing their schedule.

“I thought you did not want to leave the village. Uncle Yashamaru said shinobi are attached to their villages and might not want to leave after missions that went bad,” Gaara explained, looking up at Iruka as if asking for approval.

Iruka felt his heart constrict. Gaara was willing to sacrifice his beloved walks in the desert in order to make Iruka more comfortable. Iruka wondered if he should accept Gaara’s kindness and leave it at that, but that felt dishonest. “I was not dreaming about leaving the village.”

Gaara looked confused, “But the village is your home. Where else would you not want to leave?”

Iruka sighed, “I was asking someone else not to leave me.”

Gaara appeared to think this over, “So people can be home?”

“What?” Iruka responded.

“Home is a place where you feel safe and know will welcome you,” Gaara stated. It sounded like he was quoting someone. Iruka figured this was another thing Yashamaru had told him. “If you don’t want someone to leave, does that make them your home?’

Iruka smiled back, “That is a good way of describing it.” Sage, that made sense. Iruka had spent the years since his parents’ death feeling adrift. When Gaara framed the issue like that, his feelings towards his parents echoed his feelings towards Mist- a nostalgia that grew so strong it threatened to overwhelm him sometimes and a sense that he would never replace what he had lost.

“What were they like?” Gaara asked, glancing up at Iruka. “The people who were your home. Were they your parents? Did they love you?”

Iruka inhaled sharply, not knowing where to start. Would talking about his parents in order to get closer to the person who killed them be a betrayal to their memories?

But it seemed that Gaara was not quite done, “ Uncle Yashamaru said that no one had ever loved me and my mother said I should love only myself.” Gaara reached towards the word on his forehead.

The internal dilemma Iruka had previously been caught in was eclipsed by this new information. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he thought he had finally figured out at least part of what happened with Yashamaru. Iruka could never see him saying something like that to his beloved nephew. Yashamaru was kind, smiling at Iruka when he saw him and he had defended his nephew then he heard shinobi gossiping about him. There was no way he would say something like that. Unless those words were not his. Iruka knew the Kazekage saw Gaara (and probably the rest of his children) purely in terms of their use for himself and the village. For him, Gaara had the potential to be a devastating weapon or a major liability, depending on how well he could control himself. Iruka bet everything he had that the Kazekage ordered Yashamaru to attack Gaara and say those things to test his control. Iruka remembered Gaara saying most of his previous caretakers had tried to kill him. The Kazekage was no longer testing a weapon, but trying to get rid of his “failed experiment” that had already cost too many Sand shinobi their lives.

“Iruka?” Iruka’s head jerked up. He realized that he had begun to shake with rage and radiate hostility. Quickly correcting himself, he stopped projecting his intent and smiled reassuringly at Gaara who was clutching the ball close to this chest. Deciding that now was not the time to have a much-needed conversation about Gaara’s uncle and father, and his place in the village, Iruka focused on Gaara’s first set of questions. Any hesitation he made previously felt about discussing his parents with Gaara had vanished for the moment.

“Yes, I was thinking about my parents and yes they loved me very much,” Iruka said with confidence. He did not have much in this world, but he had that at least. “They both specialized in seals and taught me everything they could. My father was a great cook- he loved combining cooking customs from here and Mist, where we are from, to create delicious dishes that no one had ever thought of before. Of course, they did not always turn out so well.” Iruka reminisced about coming home to see the stove on fire and the smell of rotten fish permeating everything. “My mother loved animals. She would bring home lizards, snakes, and anything else she could find that she thought needed a home. We all figured out rather quickly how to tell if a creature was venomous and what precautions to take. But she loved cats most of all. One day she found a couple of kittens that had been abandoned. She brought them home and we nursed them back to health. None of us were particularly imaginative with names so we called them Orange and Tan because those were their primary colors.” Tan had gotten run over by a wagon when Iruka was eight, but Orange was Iruka’s companion until he died last year. 

Iruka paused there, not knowing what to say next. Nothing he could say would capture who his parents really were. How could he describe their kindness, dedication, silliness, and bravery? But his inadequate words had reached Gaara. His face lit up with wonder at hearing just this short snippet of Iruka’s family. 

They did not talk anymore about their families that day. They played catch and Iruka started teaching Gaara how to throw shuriken. Gaara seemed to enjoy it, as any 6-year-old who was handed sharp objects and told to go wild would. 

After dinner, Gaara retired to his room for a while. Iruka was sure he would migrate into his room sometime during the night but took advantage of his alone time to practice a technique he had not had the chance to use often. Iruka’s main skills were seals, barriers, traps, and his ability to think on his feet. He had defeated enemies far stronger than himself through quick thinking and a few well-placed D-rank jutsus. However, this technique was something he had never used in battle because he did not have the chakra reserves for it. So he had shelved it in favor of more practical techniques. Now, however, he was confined to the village indefinitely and Gaara was no longer an immediate threat to his life. If he could develop this, it would be incredibly useful for knowing where anbu and any assassins the Kazekage might send were.

Iruka took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had always been incredibly sensitive to chakra. He could feel it all around him at all times and detect large changes with ease. Probably the only reason he had never gotten lost in the desert surrounding Sand was that he could detect where the village was, due to the large amount of excess chakra that many shinobi creates, and get back. He knew he was not a traditional sensor- he could not pinpoint people or tell anything about their abilities based on their chakra. Instead, Iruka could tell when something did not match up with the surroundings. He was actually better at finding people who were currently masking their chakra than ones who were not. Those masking their chakra left holes, where chakra should be but was not. Those not suppressing their chakra, however, might slip by him if their chakra blended in with the background chakra. However, this technique required that chakra had saturated the area surrounding him, in order for him to get an accurate image of what should be there and what did not fit. Iruka simply did not have the chakra reserves necessary to sustain this technique. However, now that he was village-locked for the foreseeable future, he could test this capacity more. His limited chakra reserves were immaterial now that he had the chakra of an entire village to piggy-back on. 

As Iruka concentrated, he noticed a hole on the roof of the house. He smirked, happy that his technique was doing what it was supposed to. However, this was not enough. It had taken him a while to get a sense of the background chakra and then pinpoint where something was missing. In the very near future, he needed to have some intense conversations with Gaara about his family and seal. He doubted the Kazekage would be too happy with him when he did. Iruka could easily throw up a barrier to prevent sound from getting out, but he needed to be able to tell where the anbu was at all times just in case they grew suspicious. 

Resolving to practice whenever he got the chance, Iruka got ready for bed. Just as he was falling asleep, he heard his door creak open and small footsteps come inside. Instead of feeling threatened, Iruka’s first thought was to consider if he should start teaching Gaara some basic shinobi sneaking skills. While the sand was quite useful, it might not always be enough. Besides, Iruka had always wanted to be a teacher and Gaara certainly would be a good student. More importantly, Iruka wanted to pass on all his pranking tips. Resolving to start tomorrow with walking silently, Iruka drifted off to sleep. Of course, since the universe was out to get him, that was not at all how the next day went.

In the couple of weeks Iruka had spent with Gaara, he had not experienced any truly awful days. That changed. The first thing Iruka noticed when he woke up was that Gaara was not in his room. While he found that odd since he knew Gaara had come in the night before and he usually preferred to spend the night in Iruka’s room, he shrugged it off and started getting dressed. Maybe Gaara had gotten thirsty.  
Iruka revised this assessment when he reached the hallway. The house felt too still. A sense of foreboding settled over him. Despite what his jonin instructor has said about his survival instincts, Iruka did have a good instinct for danger. To survive this long without any flashy jutsus, he had to. His reaction to danger was just slightly different than what is expected of a shinobi. He tended to ask questions before resorting to violence unless he was under attack and needed to defend himself and his teammates. 

So when Iruka realized that the beast inside Gaara was probably influencing him more than usual, he did not start planning how best to avoid Gaara or how to minimize collateral damage. Iruka bet that Gaara’s previous caretakers had treated him in that way (before they tried to kill him!! But he knew he could only focus on one problem at a time) and they had made no progress with him. So Iruka tightened his ponytail, made his way to the kitchen, and started making their usual breakfast.

A few minutes later, he heard the swish of sand coming down the hallway. Turning towards the doorway, he nodded at Gaara, “Just in time. Breakfast is almost ready,” he said before turning back towards the stove. Gaara just hovered in the doorway without responding. Iruka aggressively pretended like everything was normal and dished up two plates. He would treat the boy as a child, not the monster everyone else saw and hope Gaara could keep it together.

Iruka sat down at the table and started eating, “Aren’t you hungry, Gaara?” He noticed Gaara was clenching and unclenching his hand, with the sand reacting every time he did.

Gaara stared unblinkingly at him, “I want blood.”

Iruka raised his eyebrow, “That sounds rather messy. Why don’t we eat breakfast before we get into something like that?” Iruka was not quite sure what he was saying, but Gaara seemed as off-balanced as him, at least. Gaara opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before coming to the table and beginning to eat. Iruka hesitated before starting up his usual stream of chatter. If he was going to treat this like it was a normal day, he needed to keep up all of their routines. Although he noted internally, he would wait to bring up the idea of teaching Gaara stealth and pranking skills. Adding a new routine on top of the breakdown Gaara was experiencing today would not end well for anyone, particularly him.

So he chattered on about a seal his parents had given to him right before they died. For a while, it had confused him. It looked like some kind of barrier seal but there were characters that seemed to suggest that the barrier was meant to be semi-permeable. Wasn’t the whole point of barriers to contain things or keep them out of a designated space? Why have a barrier that allowed some leakage? The other aspect that confused Iruka was that the seal was not meant for physical barriers. Whatever his parents wanted to let through had to be closer to energy. When he heard the gossip about the Kazekage’s youngest, he finally put things together. A seal like that would allow Gaara to access the One-tails’s chakra but still keep it sealed inside the boy. However, the more Iruka studied the seal, the more concerned he grew. While the seal looked impressive at first glance, once he examined it closely, a whole slew of potential problems appeared. Iruka understood why the Kazekage needed his parents’ help. This seal was not strong enough, and more importantly, was not properly formatted. Now that Iruka had met Gaara, he saw how true his predictions were. The seal allowed too much of the One-tails’s thoughts through and probably destabilized the One-tails as much as it did Gaara. If the seal remained the same, no matter how kind Gaara was, he would continue to kill allies because of the sway the One-tails held over him.

Iruka made a mental note to have a conversation with Gaara about his seal and the creature sealed inside him. It was next to the mental notes to have conversations about Yashamaru, Gaara’s ideas about his mother, and, oh yeah, that he had no intention of killing Gaara. 

Gaara, who usually sat quietly listening to whatever topic Iruka had chosen for that day, shifted around frequently. The sand around him was more active than usual too. Iruka got the sense that they were not going to make it through the day without some kind of breakdown.

Gaara suddenly clutched his head and screamed. Iruka tried to crouch next to him but the sand threw him across the room and into the wall. Iruka winced as he rose quickly to his feet, feeling that his ribs were at least bruised if not broken. On the other side of the room, Gaara was rocking back and forth in the chair. As Iruka hesitantly approached him, he could hear the boy talking to himself.

“Want blood, need blood. Have to keep mother happy. But not him, he is kind to me. Stay away, stay away!” The last part he screamed at Iruka who froze halfway across the kitchen. ‘Can’t, can’t, don’t want to. Stop!” Gaara continued to spiral downwards.

Iruka swallowed but knew he could not just leave. With the state Gaara was in, he would probably hurt the first person he came across and then the Kazekage would have Iruka’s head. But more importantly, Iruka did not want to leave Gaara alone when he was in this state. He sounded so lost and afraid. However, he had to proceed with caution. If he moved too quickly or did something Gaara did not like, he had no doubt Gaara would kill or seriously injure him. Then the poor boy would be all alone again and feel guilt over hurting Iruka. Iruka could not afford to make any mistakes here. 

So he stayed where he was and crouched down so he could look Gaara in the eye. “Gaara, can you tell me what’s going on?” he questioned, making sure to keep his voice quiet and soothing.

Gaara did not answer for a long moment before finally speaking in a shaky tone, “Mother wants blood and I have to get it for her or else she’ll leave just like everyone else.” He looked Iruka directly in the eye, for the first time that day. “She’s always there and today she’s angry. It hurts and I can’t stop it and no one helps and…” Gaara trailed off, reaching up to touch the symbol on his forehead. He went stock-still.

“Gaara?” Iruka asked, sensing something even worse was about to come.

“I forgot,” Gaara stated, still touching his forehead. “I forget and now she is reminding me. I should not have forgotten.”

“Forgotten what, Gaara?” Iruka urged, glancing warily at the sand that had begun to advance towards him.

“No one has ever loved me. Only I can love myself. I need no one else,” Gaara stated, sounding more confident than Iruka had ever heard him. “You distracted me from mother and now she wants blood. Yours will appease her.”

As Gaara lifted his hand and the sand sped towards him, Iruka felt his mind go blank. Was this the last thing his parents saw before they died, he wondered?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iruka, realizing the sheer number of intense emotional conversations he needs to have with a lonely 6-year-old with a demon inside of him, finds excuses to put them off and then regrets his life choices. 
> 
> Well, the event you all had to know was coming is here! It's going to be wild next few chapters. And honestly, this was not even the event I planned the most when I thought about this fic. It was kind of snuck up on me and grew out of control.
> 
> Hopefully, the drama of the second half of the chapter counteracted the cheesiness of the first half. Hope you enjoyed.


	5. Chapter 5

Luckily for Iruka, his shinobi instincts reacted even when his brain was busy freaking out. He jumped to the side as sand slammed into the wall where he had just been standing. Knowing that launching a frontal attack at Gaara would be pointless and only serve to make him angrier, Iruka hastily threw five kunai with seals attached to form a barrier around himself. He mentally thanked his jonin teacher for drilling it into his head that he must always be prepared, no matter where he was. 

Gaara’s sand relentlessly hit against his barrier. Iruka knew he did not have much time before it gave way. He needed a strategy. He couldn’t run since that would be seen as him abandoning his duties and the Kazekage would kill him. He couldn’t fight Gaara. Iruka had never been a distance fighter. If his traps didn’t take an opponent out, he needed to find a way to get close and wait for them to make a mistake so he could use a seal or lower-level technique. The sand would never allow Iruka to get close enough when Gaara was like this. The only way out was causing Gaara enough emotional confusion that he stopped. Iruka realized he might have to prioritize his survival over not messing Gaara up more than had already had been. He was kicking himself for not having any of those necessary, emotionally-draining, and very dangerous conversations earlier. That would have at least given him a base to build on. Now it looked like he was going to have to yell them at Gaara. He did not know how else to break through the One-tails’ influence and reach Gaara. 

Of course, this plan ran the risk of riling Gaara up even more than he had been before, but that was a risk Iruka would have to take. If he miscalculated, he wouldn’t be the one to deal with the consequences. Instead of feeling freeing, this thought only made him feel worse. Gaara would have no one to look out for his best interests. If Iruka died here, not only would he be replaced by other assassin biding their time until they could get rid of the Kazekage’s failed experiment, but Gaara would have to bear the guilt of Iruka’s death for the rest of his life. Morbidly, Iruka wondered if Gaara would then repeat some of the things Iruka had told him in the same tone of voice he used to repeat his Uncle’s sayings. But no, Iruka couldn’t think like that. This was the most important fight of his life so far and he needed to make it out alive. 

Iruka leaped sideways again as his barrier shattered. He quickly threw up a new one, noting that he only had enough barrier seals for two more. He better settle this quickly because dodging in a confined space with walls containing sand would not go well for him.

“Gaara, that voice you hear is not your mother. It’s a demon that has been sealed inside you since you were born.” Iruka screamed. With all the sand hurtling about, he could not even see Gaara let alone tell what kind of impact his words were having on the child. But the only way through was forward so he continued on. “You are a jinchuriki. You have the One-tails sealed within you. It’s the source of the thoughts you have been hearing.”

The sand became even more agitated, beating down on his barrier harder than before. At the last minute, Iruka jumped backwar as the barrier fell and swiftly threw up a new one before the sand could reach him. “Your mother loved you.” Iruka admittedly did not know how true that statement was, but he figured it might help him get through to Gaara. “As did your uncle.” That one Iruka was sure of. “They never wanted to hurt you and didn’t want you to live like this.”

The sand ceased its movements. Iruka could make out Gaara’s figure walking towards him. “They didn’t want to hurt me? Yashumaru tried to kill me. He told me that no one had ever loved me. Mother is the only one who will stay with me. You’re just like the rest of them- weak and trying desperately to save their own skin. The second person father sent to murder me pleaded for his life before I killed him. After that, I killed them all instantaneously so I wouldn’t have to listen to them scream.” By the time Gaara finished speaking, a rasp had taken over his voice, making him sound more like a demon than a child. 

While most would take that as a threat, Iruka focused in on the last part, “Why didn’t you want to hear them scream, Gaara?” The boy halted a few feet from Iruka and looked taken aback. “You feel like you have to provide blood for the voice in your head to prevent it from leaving you all alone, but you don’t actually enjoy killing do you? You’ve done what you thought was necessary to protect yourself. If you really wanted to, you could have killed far more people than you have. The fact that you only kill those who tried to hurt you or when the demon inside you gets out of control tells me you don’t enjoy hurting people.” Iruka really hoped he was reading that right.

“Yashumaru attacked you, didn’t he?” Iruka continued. It was the only explanation that made sense given what Gaara had said. “He was the first person your father sent to kill you, wasn’t he?” That made a terrifying amount of sense. The Kazekage must have wanted to test Gaara’s control and when Gaara failed the test, he marked him as a failure and tried to have him disposed of. Iruka would get righteously angry over that later. Right now he needed to focus. Quickly noting that the anbu had fallen back, probably to prepare a barrier in case Gaara killed Iruka and started to go on a rampage, Iruka knew he could speak semi-freely. “Your sand killed him automatically, didn’t it?” While now Gaara seemed enraged at his uncle, given how he repeated his sayings, he must have a great deal of guilt and love directed towards him. “Your uncle didn’t want to say those things towards you. Your father ordered him to in order to test your control.” If Iruka was wrong (which he deemed unlikely) he would still stick by this story. Yashamaru had been Gaara’s caretaker for years. Gaara needed his uncle to have loved him. The Kazekage was a distant figure who never cared much about Gaara. There was no lost love between them. 

Iruka rolled to the side and threw up his final barrier as a wave of sand came rushing at him. “Gaara, my parents were working on a way to make your seal more stable. It would make it so that the One-tails’ thoughts do not overwhelm your own. I can help.”

“You want to take Mother away from me?” Gaara yelled. “I need her.”

“But it isn’t good for you. You could be free of its demands for blood. You wouldn’t have to kill your allies.” As much as Iruka wished to, he could not tell Gaara he would not have to kill anyone he didn’t want to. They were shinobi and Gaara would be used as a weapon, sooner rather than later.

“I would stay with you. Your father assigned me to be your caretaker indefinitely. And it’s not like I am needed much for missions outside the village. I want to keep playing catch and taking walks with you. I can guarantee I will tell you more about plants than you ever wanted to know. We haven’t even scratched the surface of how amazing cacti are. I want to show you my best pranking techniques that I never really had the opportunity to put into practice. I know it’s hard for you to believe what I’m saying. You don’t have to put all your trust in me today. But give me a chance. Besides,” Iruka finished, praying to whatever forces he could think of that this speech would get through to Gaara, “none of your other caretakers can cook like me, right?” His barrier fell apart around him but all of Iruka’s attention was on the boy who had gone completely still in the center of the room.

“Gaara?” Iruka hesitantly took a step forward and instantly regretted it. The sand that had paused when Gaara did suddenly reacted. Iruka felt the air rush out of his lungs as he was slammed against the wall. Sand enveloped him completely as he struggled to breath. This must be the sand coffin the mission instructions had mentioned. Not much he could do now. As Iruka lost consciousness, his last thought was to hope that Gaara would recover from his death and find people who would care about him.

When Iruka awoke, he spent the first several moments in a state of confusion. He didn’t quite remember where he was supposed to be but he was pretty sure it wasn’t wherever he currently was. As details came back to him, he jolted up, “Gaara!”

“Your charge is perfectly fine, unlike you.” Iruka jerked his head over to stare at the med-nin who was standing in the doorway. “You just woke up and are already trying to undo all the work I put into you.” She approached his bedside and helped him sit up. Iruka winced and then regretted it when every muscle screamed its displeasure with his life choices. “You’ll be alright eventually. You’ll need to stay here for another day so I can make sure your ribs heal properly and none of your external wounds gets infected. I’m Mari.” Mari busied herself changing Iruka’s bandages then helped him drink some water.

As she was about to leave, Iruka blurted out, “Wait. You said Gaara was alright? Where is he? Who is watching over him? How long have I been here? How did I get here?” 

Mari raised her eyebrow at him. “You really are a mess.” Before Iruka could protest, she continued, “I am not the best person to answer those questions. Ask your shadow if you want answers so badly.” She gestured towards the opposite corner where an anbu stood. Iruka had not even noticed him before. “Don’t do anything to fuck up your health anymore before I get back or I’ll make you regret it.” With that cheerful threat (that Iruka had no doubt she would follow through on if he pushed her to it), Mari left the room without looking back.

Iruka stared over at the anbu. He finally processed that it was the same one who had spoken to him in the kitchen what felt like a lifetime ago. He wore a scorpion mask, so Iruka dubbed him Scorpion. He also seemed disinclined to move or respond to any of the questions that Iruka had directed at Mari. After a few minutes, Iruka decided that continuing the staring contest was pointless. He could not even see the other’s eyes and he was sure Scorpion had faced larger threats than a 15-year-old chunin on bedrest. However, Iruka really did need answers about what happened after he lost consciousness. Hoping that he would not piss off the room’s other occupant to badly, Iruka hesitantly asked, “What happened to Gaara?”

Scorpion remained silent for a few moments then sighed. “You really are stubborn.” Iruka did not respond, knowing he could not really deny the accusation. “As was mentioned earlier, Gaara is fine. He has no injuries.” Which was not at all what Iruka wanted to know. He doubted anything could injure Gaara easily with his sand defense. Of course, the anbu did not tell give Iruka any clues about Gaara’s mental state. 

“So when can I return to my duties?” Iruka asked instead. Mari had said he would be released by tomorrow, right? Hopefully, he could counteract any mental anguish Gaara had experienced if he returned quickly. They also really needed to continue the conversations Iruka had started by screaming out distressing facts and bold claims during Gaara’s breakdown.

While Iruka could not see Scorpion’s face, he got the distinct impression he judging him. “You are that eager to return to watching a monster?”

“He’s not a monster,” Iruka immediately responded. “He’s a scared and lonely child who has been forced into seclusion and never had a consistent positive influence. He didn’t want to hurt me. If his seal was not so badly designed and someone beyond Yashamaru had actually made an effort to understand him, he would not be like this.” After he finished his tirade Iruka took a deep breath in. Why did he lack any semblance of self-control and good sense? He had just screamed what could easily be taken as treason at an anbu who could kill him in an instant. Of course, Iruka stood by everything he said, but he probably should not have said it right then.

Instead of moving to kill or disappearing to report to the Kazekage, Scorpion just stood there. This time, Iruka could swear he was projecting amusement. Was that a skill taught to new anbu recruits: how to communicate emotions mockingly through masks? Because if so, Scorpion must have passed with flying colors.

“As soon as you leave the hospital you may go back to your duties. Gaara has not left the house since you were injured and has made no move to hurt anyone else,” Scorpion reported. As Iruka opened his mouth to ask about Gaara’s mental state again, he continued, “I have no more information to give to you.” Iruka shut his mouth and glared. Oh, Scorpion definitely knew more than he was saying. But it seemed the anbu had grown tired of their conversation, “Get better soon. No one else can care for Gaara like you.” With that closing remark, Scorpion disappeared in s shower of sand.

Iruka automatically made a rude gesture at the corner where Scorpion had just been before fully processing what he had said. Was that a compliment? More importantly, did Scorpion care for Gaara? Well if he did, he had certainly not shown so before. Iruka would have to try and keep an eye on him. He needed all the allies he could get to try and prevent anyone from hurting Gaara.

Iruka laughed at himself. Two months ago, his only feelings towards Gaara were anger, fear, and resentment. Now he didn’t even get mad at Gaara for putting him in the hospital. Somewhere along the line, Gaara had moved from the threat box to someone Iruka wanted to protect. Iruka couldn’t bring himself to be too surprised. He was always told he became emotionally involved too quickly and deeply. Gaara was the container of the One-tails and had killed Iruka’s parents, but at his core, he was a lonely child who had no one else to turn to. He had latched onto Iruka quickly and tried so hard to accommodate him. Gaara deserved to be loved. 

Iruka was more surprised to find that any lingering resentment he had for Gaara over his parent’s deaths had disappeared. He still missed them, probably always would. He wanted to help his dad cook or throw shrunken with his mom. He wanted to listen to the two of them argue about seals. He hated that they were not here to guide him and share in his accomplishments. None of those feelings had diminished. But he no longer blamed Gaara for killing them. He knew that Gaara had not wanted to do it and had no control over his actions. He had been a 3-year-old who had been confused and scared when they tried to work on his seal and reacted automatically. 

Iruka had finally opened that box that he had been stuffing all of his feelings into for the last 3 years. It felt cleansing to finally acknowledge all of his emotions but he no longer felt overwhelmed by them. Just as he forgave Gaara for his role in his parents’ deaths, he forgave himself for the resentment he had previously felt towards his charge. Iruka may have been an adult by shinobi standards when his parents died, but he was still very much a child who had lost his only support system. He sat with his grief, despair, loneliness, and anger.

Oh yes, he still had pretty of anger. Anger at the Kazekage for trying to turn his youngest into a weapon and sacrificing Iruka’s parents when it did not work out the way he had wanted it to. Anger at the Kazekage who after all of that would try and dispose of Gaara when he failed to have perfect control. Anger at the village that told Iruka he was never good enough, that shunned Gaara. Anger at the One-tails for destabilizing Gaara. Anger at Yashamaru for trying to hurt Gaara, regardless of the fact that he had been ordered to. 

But beyond all that anger there was something Iruka had truly felt in a long time: happiness and even love. Happiness when Gaara slowly repeated the names of ingredients back to Iruka and sat on the counter next to him while he cooked. Happiness when Gaara finally succeeded in catching the ball and let loose a beaming smile that Iruka had never seen before. Happiness when Gaara started to name each cactus they passed and repeated certain facts Iruka had taught him. Love when Gaara tried to make Iruka feel comfortable and safe by staying inside the village after Iruka had had a nightmare or giving him the bigger portion of ramen which he had learned was Iruka’s favorite. 

Iruka lay in the hospital bed for several hours, just processing his emotions. By the end, his face was wet with tears and he had pretty much destroyed the top sheet by gripping it so harshly, but he felt content. He had needed to do this- to acknowledge all his feelings in order to move forward. It wouldn’t be easy. Iruka did not know what kind of state Gaara was in or how he would respond to Iruka when he got back. He did not know what the Kazekage’s plans for Gaara and him were. He did not know what Scorpion would report or what his motivations were. But he did know one thing. Gaara was the closest thing he had had to family since his parents had died and he felt that as they grew closer, he would feel comfortable treating him like a younger brother. And Iruka would do anything to protect him from here on out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has so much parallel structure towards the end and I have no regrets.
> 
> I was tempted to end the chapter after Iruka blacked out, but I figured that would be torturing you all way too much and detract from the effect of cliffhangers.   
Mari was not even supposed to be a named character since I hate naming Ocs but I have a weakness for bad-ass med-nin who take no shit so here she is. I have half a backstory put together for her already.
> 
> For me, it was very important that Gaara chose not to kill Iruka. Just having someone around him who cares for him cannot erase the years worth of suffering and hatred. Iruka showed him that things did not have to be like this, but Gaara had to make his own choices. It would have been easy for him to kill Iruka and just keep living the life he was used to. Instead, he chose to protect the person who had been kind to him and offered him a different life. It won't be easy from here on out but Gaara chose the hope that things could get better over the ways things had always been. And that will mean coming to terms with what he has done and what has done to him. Something fun for next time. Anyway, that was my rant for today.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has kudos/comments. They really make my day.


	6. Chapter 6

“Alright, your ribs are healed but still keep an eye on them for the next few days. You still have some bruising, but I assume you have some bruise cream at home?” Mari waited for Iruka to nod his head before continuing, “Well then I guess you are all set to go. Fill out your paperwork at the front desk on your way out.” Iruka stood up to leave, glad to be back on his feet. 

“Oh and, Iruka?” Mari gave him a smile that was all teeth. “Don’t let me see you back here too soon.” Iruka nodded quickly, too afraid of Mari to react otherwise. She snorted and waved him off. After completing his check-out form with the shinobi at the desk downstairs, Iruka hurried towards the little house on the edge of the village. This was the longest he had been away from Gaara since he had been assigned as his caregiver and given the terrible day Gaara had been having the day before, he needed to get back to him. 

When he arrived, he caught sight of Scorpion on the roof who waved and gestured for him to go in. Iruka opened the door slowly, not sure what to expect. Scorpion had mentioned that Gaara had not hurt anyone else so he guessed the worst of the episode was over, but it never hurt to be careful. Everything looked pretty much as Iruka had left it. The dishes from the breakfast he made yesterday morning were still on the counter. The sections of the wall that had been damaged had been repaired enough to hold up although it was still clear that they had been damaged. Iruka decided he would ask Scorpion if he could get him some supplies or have them delivered here. More importantly, Iruka had not heard any sign of Gaara this whole time. But he had to be here or Scorpion wouldn’t be on the roof. Iruka peaked into the living room and Gaara’s bedroom but he was not in either. 

Iruka finally made his way towards the only room left in the house, his own bedroom. The door was open and Iruka quietly stepped inside. There, curled up in the corner, wrapped in Iruka’s yukata so completely that his face was hidden in it, was Gaara. Only part of his hair stuck out. Iruka could hear him breathing unsteadily with small sobs coming every now and then. Iruka crossed the room in a flash and knelt down a couple of feet away from the boy. “Gaara?”

The blob under Iruka’s yukata went still before the garment was pulled back to reveal Gaara’s face. He looked terrible. Along with the bags that usually adorned his face, his eyes were completely bloodshot likely he had been crying all day. As Gaara let go of the yukata, Iruka could see that he still had splotches of Iruka’s blood on his clothes. Gaara had not said a single thing, which made Iruka very worried. He shifted forward slowly, keeping his eyes on Gaara to see how he would react. Gaara just sat there except for his hands. Iruka noticed they were shaking and as he glanced down towards them one of them reached up as if to touch him before aborting the movement. Oh, Iruka realized, he’s not afraid of me being near, he’s afraid that I’ll reject him. With that knowledge, Iruka gingerly closed the gap between them. When he was directly in front of Gaara, he reached out his arms and gently pulled him into a hug. He had never dared to do this before but figured they both needed it. Gaara stayed motionless for a few moments before letting out a cry and burrowing into Iruka’s shoulder. His arms latched around Iruka’s neck and Iruka could feel his tears begin anew. Iruka hung on, stroking his hands up and down Gaara’s back and murmuring reassurances.

Since Gaara did not seem interested in letting go anytime soon, Iruka sat back so he was more comfortable, keeping Gaara pressed against him. They ended up with Iruka sitting against the wall with Gaara curled up in his lap with his head still hiding in Iruka’s shoulder. Iruka let go of all his worries temporarily and just basked in the feeling of Gaara trusting him. Eventually, Gaara’s tears ran out and he peaked his face out. Iruka shifted in order to grab one of his shirts that were one the floor and used it to gently wipe off Gaara’s face. Once he looked a little better, Iruka asked, “Gaara, do you feel up to talking right now?”

Gaara hesitated a moment before nodding. Iruka smiled and stood up, resting Gaara on his hip. “How about we go into the kitchen, I’ll make us some tea, and we can talk?” Gaara nodded once again. Still rather concerned about his lack of verbal replies, Iruka asked, “What kind of tea would you prefer?”

Gaara did not respond immediately, but eventually said, “Mint.” Iruka nodded, glad that Gaara could respond verbally, at least. When they reached the kitchen, Iruka set Gaara down at the table and started to prepare the tea. He was incredibly grateful the walls were the only thing really damaged by Gaara’s breakdown yesterday. He did not have to worry about replacing any furniture or dishes. 

As the tea steeped, Iruka quickly performed the hand signs necessary to activate the silence barrier. While Scorpion had not turned him in for treason yet, he did not know how far his goodwill extended and he would probably feel obligated to stop Iruka from going against the Kazekage’s explicit orders. Iruka had had the seals in place for his strongest sound repressing barrier since a week after he moved in. Be prepared for anything was pretty much the shinobi motto after all. After making sure that Scorpion had not reacted to Iruka’s barrier, Iruka felt safe enough to begin the talk.

Once the tea was ready, he carried it over to the table. Once settled, Iruka found himself at a loss of where to begin. There were so many different topics that he wanted to address, but they were all so interconnected. Should he immediately address the events of yesterday or start at the beginning with Gaara’s seal?

Gaara’s voice broke through Iruka’s internal dilemma, “Are you alright?” When Iruka looked up, Gaara was staring intensely at him, particularly the bandages on his arm. Iruka remembered that Gaara healed much quicker than a normal person and so probably had no real understanding of how serious/minor his injuries were.

Iruka quickly sought to reassure him, “Yes, I am alright.” When Gaara did not look like he believed him, Iruka elaborated, “I have some bruising but I have a cream that will make them hurt less and heal faster. A very dedicated med-nin in the hospital healed my ribs.” He could have used the word terrifying to describe Mari but did not want to worry Gaara more than he already had.

Instead of looking reassured, Gaara looked like he was about to start crying again. Before Iruka could figure out what he said wrong, Gaara cried out, “I’m sorry. Please don’t leave. Even Mother has left me now.”

Iruka reached out and grabbed Gaara’s hand. Squeezing it gently, he spoke, “I’m right here and not going anywhere. I know you did not want to hurt me.” But now came the hard part. “Gaara, can you tell me more about what Mother says to you? Why did you say it had left you?”

Gaara kept a tight grip ono Iruka’s hand while responding. “Mother is always with me. I never knew what the voice inside my head was until Uncle Yashamaru said that my Mother was always with me. Mother tells me that she wants blood and I want to keep her happy so I give it to her. But sometimes she gets really loud and it’s too much and I don’t know what to do.” By the end of his explanation, Gaara was breathing heavily and the sand had begun to rustle again.

Well, that confirmed Iruka’s suspicions that Mother was the voice of the Onetails’. The seal was probably destabilizing it as well as Gaara. It responded by lashing out at humans who had imprisoned it through Gaara. It seemed that Iruka would need to address all the issues he had been contemplating in order to help Gaara.

“Gaara, I need to tell you some things. I started to tell you these things yesterday, but that was not the best time for that. I’m sorry I started the conversation in that way, but I did not know how else to get through to you. You need to know these things. What you choose to do with that information is up to you. But can you promise me that you will do your best to listen? It will be a lot to take it, but I promise I am not trying to mislead or overwhelm you. Everything I am about to say is true, to the best of my knowledge.” Gaara quietly promised. Honestly, Iruka felt Gaara would have given him anything he asked for in that moment, as long as Iruka stayed with him.

“Had you ever heard of a bijuu before I mentioned them yesterday?” Gaara shook his head. Iruka wasn’t surprised. Why would anyone bother to explain to Gaara what had been done to him? “They’re basically beings with huge stores of chakra. They tend not to like humans much and are very dangerous. The only way we know to control them is to seal them inside someone. That person becomes a jinchuriki. They can access the chakra of the bijuu but also have to struggle to keep control of it.” Throughout his explanation, Iruka could tell that Gaara was following along but did not seem to get how that applied to him. “Gaara, you are the jinchuriki for the One-tails.” Iruka started speaking faster as if the quicker he said everything, the less it would hurt. “It was sealed inside you before you were born but your seal isn’t right. That voice that you hear inside your head? Gaara, that’s not your mother. When Yashamaru said she was always with you, he did not mean it like that. That voice is the One-tails trying to influence you.” Iruka paused for a minute, letting that information sink in. “Gaara, I want to help you but the best way for me to do that is to fix your seal. My parents created a better seal that would prevent so much of the One-tails from leaking through. If you would let me apply that, the voice will no longer be as strong. I know it has been with you for the entirety of your life and you think it’s your mother. But it’s not and it’s hurting you and I hate to see that. I can’t promise everything will get better once your seal is fixed, but I’ll be here and we can work through things together.” 

Iruka knew fixing Gaara’s seal would not stop the Kazekage from coming after his son and he would probably be absolutely furious at Iruka for doing something like this without his permission. However, Iruka had stopped caring about his leader’s condemnation. He would never win his approval or the approval of most people in the village anyway, and neither would Gaara. But Iruka could help Gaara. He didn’t know how much fixing the seal would actually improve Gaara’s life. He would still have the years' worth of trauma from the village’s treatment of him and his issues with Yashamaru and his mother. And while Iruka hoped his murder sprees would stop, he simply did not know quieting the One-tails’ voice would affect Gaara’s psyche. It the long run, it was better for Gaara and everyone around him for him to have a proper seal. But in the short term, since Gaara viewed this voice as his mother, Iruka wondered if he might lash out more initially because his one constant was no longer there. It was a chance Iruka would have to take.

Gaara seemed to be deep in thought. He kept squeezing Iruka’s hand and then reaching towards the symbol on his forehead. Iruka took it as a positive sign that he had not lashed out yet but seemed to be giving the matter some thought. 

Finally, Gaara spoke, “You’ll stay with me?” Before Iruka could respond, he continued, “Mother wants me to hurt people and you are the closest one. She keeps insisting and I can’t keep denying her. But if she really is what you say she is, I don’t want to hurt you because of her. I want you to stay with me and teach me how to throw shuriken. I want to be able to be near you without her getting so loud I can’t hear your stories. No one has stuck by me for me before. I want to stay with you. If you say you can help, I will trust you.” Telegraphing his every movement, Iruka stood up and walked around the table to draw Gaara into a hug. He wondered if he should tell Gaara that making an extremely important decision for the sole reason of wanting another person to stay with him was not very healthy, but it got them to the result that was most beneficial to Gaara so Iruka decided not to address it right now. Later, after all the other talks they needed to have Iruka could talk to Gaara about healthy relationships and the importance of valuing himself, not just the people he cared about. Not that Iruka had much experience with healthy relationships himself but his parents had given him a few pointers on what he should not put up within relationships.

“Thank you for your trust, Gaara. I will not abuse it. Now we’ve both had an emotional couple of days, so why don’t we just relax for the rest of the day? Fiddling with an unstable seal that is affected by your emotions can wait until tomorrow. How about we go start dinner?” Iruka figured talking about Yashamaru could wait until the seal was fixed. 

Iruka stepped back and headed over to the counter. Gaara hurried behind him and used his sand to boost himself up on the counter beside Iruka. Before he started cooking, Iruka subtly performed the hand signs necessary to take down the barrier of silence. Scorpion had not moved from his stop on top of the house since Iruka had gotten home, so he assumed they were safe. 

After a quick dinner, Iruka made to retire to his room. Gaara instantly attached himself to his side. Iruka could not bring himself to feel too surprised. He doubted Gaara would allow him out of his sight for the next few days. Instead of protesting this, Iruka gently picked Gaara up and settled him on his hip. The red-head seemed content to bury his face in Iruka’s neck and let himself be carried. Iruka settled him on Iruka’s bed before getting ready for bed himself. The brunette curled up beside Gaara, making sure that the kid was on the outside so if he got restless while Iruka was asleep, he could get up and walk around without worrying too much about waking Iruka. Iruka fell asleep quickly, comforted by the small spot of warmth that was cuddled up next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress!!!! Slowly but surely we getting there.
> 
> Nex chapter Temari and Kankuro will make their appearances. I meant to introduce them way earlier but the emotional conversations spiraled out of control.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and please leave kudos/comments.


	7. Chapter 7

“Ok, this is going to be a long process,” Iruka explained. Since you have had a faulty seal for so many years, I can’t just apply a new one. Instead, I am going to fix up your seal a little at a time and once it has stabilized, I will create a new one that should allow you to draw on the One-tails’ chakra without it wielding undue influence over you. Does that make sense?”

Gaara, who sat across from Iruka on his bed, nodded. It was the early evening of the next day. Iruka had encouraged Gaara to stick to their regular routine because that would help the anbu and whoever else was watching them settle down faster and believe things were back to normal. So they had taken their walk in the desert, with Iruka fulfilling his promise of talking Gaara’s ear off about cacti. In the afternoon, they had practiced throwing shruinkin behind the house. Iruka was glad that no one was nearby during that exercise. Gaara’s aim had a lot of room for improvement. After dinner, Iruka had pretended to feel tired and said he was going to retire early. As he had hoped, Gaara followed him without hesitation and once they reached the bedroom, Iruka activated his silencing barrier. Then he got down to business explaining what he was going to do. The poor kid had had enough done to him in his life without his consent. Iruka was going to explain everything, answer Gaara’s questions, and make sure that Gaara had control over some things in his life at least.

“This is how I think it would work best, but are you alright with this, Gaara? Changing the seal gradually should decrease the strain on you, but I can’t promise that this won’t hurt or be stressful.” Iruka bluntly told him.

Again, Gaara nodded. “I don’t know much about seals and I trust you.” Iruka cooed internally and resolved that he would not let Gaara down.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Iruka had Gaara lay down and examined his seal. After contemplating where the best place to start was for several minutes, Iruka added a character to the upper left-hand corner. That should quiet the One-tails’ voice a little and would not negatively impact the rest of the shoddy seal. “Well, that’s all for today. The voice should be a little quieter now. Promise me you will tell me if anything feels wrong?” After Gaara promised, Iruka collapsed onto the bed alongside him and was out like a light. Apparently wandering around the desert while he was still healing took more out of him than he thought.

The next morning, Iruka remembered that he better make sure his wounds were healing properly or Mari would definitely come after him. Gaara watched silently as he shed his old bandages and inspected the cuts. They were healing nicely. Mari had focused on fighting off the infection that was common with sand cuts. If Iruka kept applying the cream and kept them wrapped, they would probably be gone in under a week. 

When Iruka reached for the cream, he noticed Gaara had moved. The boy hesitantly approached him, eyes fixed on the wounds. He glanced up at Iruka, looking upset. Before he got too carried away blaming himself, Iruka asked, “Do you want to help me treat them?”

Gaara agreed quickly. He put some of the balm on his fingers and spread it over Iruka’s cut. His touch was so light on Iruka’s arms that he could hardly feel it. Iruka chuckled, “I’m not made of glass you know?’ he commented. “I promise they look worse than they are.” Gaara looked like he didn’t believe him. While Gaara’s dedication could not be questioned, his skill in wrapping bandages left much to be desired. While most shinobi children at his age at least knew the basics of first-aid, Gaara had never been injured and so no one bothered to teach him. He could not figure out how to get the bandages to stay without wrapping them so tightly that he cut off Iruka’s circulation. The look he gave the bandages after his third attempt communicated such a sense of betrayal that Iruka had to laugh.

“It’s fine. Here, why don’t you watch me apply them today and you can try and copy me tomorrow?” Gaara accepted this compromise and watched intently as Iruka slowly wrapped the bandages, making sure to show Gaara every step along the way.

As they were eating breakfast, Gaara asked, “It’s the seventh today, isn’t it?” Iruka glanced at the calendar on the wall before nodding. He was not quite sure where this was going since Gaara had never cared about the date before. Every day had the same routine, anyway, so it didn’t much matter.

“My siblings will be visiting today,” Gaara stated.

“What?” Iruka exclaimed. 

Gaara looked confused. “They visit on the seventh every other month. Father does not trust me around them more than that but he wants me to get used to their presence because they will be my team in the future.” Iruka did not ask how Gaara knew that. He had seen the sand eyeball Gaara could create. He didn’t blame him for eavesdropping on the Kazekage considering the man was the biggest threat to Gaara right now. But no one had told him about this. The briefing had not mentioned it, nor had Scorpion, or even Gaara before this point. What was Iruka supposed to do? Was he expected to watch over all three siblings for the day or would someone come with the other two? Should he just fade into the background? How much supervision would Gaara need around those two? Should he be more concerned about them hurting Gaara? 

“Gaara, what usually happens when your siblings visit?” Iruka figured the best way to prepare was to know what to expect.

Gaara shrugged, “They come to the house. Someone will drop them off and more anbu usually accompany them.” Well, that answered one question. Seemed like Iruka would be on his own in managing this event. “They don’t like me very much. They are afraid of me, although Temari is better at hiding it than Kankuro.” Iruka filed those names away. “I ignore them until their caretaker comes back for them near sundown.” 

Iruka despaired internally. One of his goals for the future was to help Gaara establish more healthy relationships with other kids, and he thought Gaara’s siblings might be good people to start with, but not right now. Gaara was still wound up from everything that happened the last few days and stuck to Iruka like glue. Iruka doubted he was in a good place to reach out. This visit would probably only widen the gap between the siblings since Gaara would be snappish about having others in his space. Iruka cast around for something to save this potential disaster. What do kids like to do that would distract them enough from how scared they were of Gaara? Iruka did not know if giving all of them pointy objects would help Gaara’s siblings to see him as non-threatening. Knowing his aim, he would probably hit them and not apologize. So that was out. Sitting inside ignoring each other definitely would not help matters either.

“Gaara, why don’t you go on your walks in the desert on these visitations days?” Iruka questioned. Surely that would help Gaara calm down and might make him more willing to interact with his siblings if they were doing a familiar activity.

“We’re not allowed to go beyond the yard on these days,” Gaara answered. Of course, Iruka thought bitterly, that would make things too simple. 

Just then, Iruka, who had been using his sensing technique since he learned they were having visitors, felt three more figures settle on the roof. Looks like it was show-time. Fuck it, Iruka decided, I am teaching them all some basics trapping techniques that are good for pranking today. It can’t end up any worse than if I do nothing, and at least this way they will all learn something. Hopefully working together will help them bond. With this resolution in mind, Iruka headed towards the door, with Gaara close by his side. He heard a faint knock, and threw the door open, aggressively smiling.

“Hello, you must be Temari and Kankuro. Pleased to meet you. I’m Iruka, your brother’s caretaker.” Both children looked shocked at his greeting. The caretaker who was back by the gate glanced at Iruka before hurrying away, apparently not wanting to get caught up in whatever was about to go down. “Please come in,” Iruka stepped back and gestured them inside. The children exchanged a glance before obeying. Iruka took a chance to get a better look at them. Temari was the oldest if Iruka recalled correctly. She already had two small fans with her, signaling her wind affinity. Kankuro took after the Kazekage in his facial features. He was more obviously nervous than Temari and stayed slightly behind her. Neither one made any effort to greet Gaara. “Have you eaten already?” Both of them nodded, still looking quite confused. “Great. Who wants to learn how to dump a bucket of paint on a jonin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this the way seals actually work in the show? Probably not, but when Iruka finally fixes Gaara's seal, I plan on him meeting Shukaku and that will lead to more emotional conversations. I wanted to introduce Temari and Kankuro before getting to that since the tags promised sibling bonding and pranking shenanigans. I love writing the sand siblings. Kankuro is one of the background characters whom I absolutely love. (The other is Tenten). I am enjoying writing him and Temari's interactions with Iruka and Gaara.


	8. Chapter 8

Iruka reveled in the sheer shocked silence coming from Temari and Kankuro. Gaara, just tugged on his hand and asked, “Is this one of your pranking techniques you promised to show me?” He seemed rather put out that Iruka would also offer to teach his siblings.

Iruka nodded. “I know I promised to teach you, but pranks are more fun when you have some to plot with and provide you an alibi if needed.” 

Gaara seemed to consider this for a moment before insisting, “But you’ll show me more, right?”

Iruka snorted and swung Gaara up onto his hip. “Of course. After all, you are my charge. But this could be a good opportunity to bond with your siblings.” It was cute how jealous Gaara got, and for now, Iruka would allow it. Gaara needed to know he was Iruka’s number one priority. When he was more secure in his worth, Iruka would encourage him to build closer ties with others and show him the importance of having multiple bonds.

Gaara, satisfied with his place at the top of Iruka’s priorities, settled down and gave no more objections. Iruka raised his eyes to the other two children, who were gaping at him like he was holding a particularly nasty exploding tag. Iruka supposed in their eyes, he probably was. Everyone in this family had a lot of misinformation to clear up and bad habits to break. But since Iruka was not there to guide Temari and Kankuro constantly, he would just have to try and show them that Gaara was different from how they were told to view him. 

“Well, let’s go outside then. This is too messy an activity to do indoors. Once you have gotten the hang of it, you can do it indoors but only if you think you can get away with it and someone you don’t like will have to clean it up. Otherwise, it is not worth it.” Iruka made his way towards the back of the house with Gaara still in his arms. When he glanced back, he noticed Temari and Kankuro exchange confused looks but they followed anyway. Probably because they felt like they had no other choice, but Iruka could work with that. His main priority was to encourage sibling bonding. If they decided he was completely crazy by the end of the day, that was alright. As long as they felt obligated to obey him as a semi-adult figure, Iruka could get them to go along and hopefully grow closer to each other.

Once they got outside, Iruka put Gaara down and stood in front of the three children. “So the first decision to make when carrying out a prank is whether you want to get caught or not.” This drew him even more confused looks,

Temari actually raised her hand, “Um sir… isn’t the point not to get caught? Won’t you get in trouble if you do?”

Iruka beamed. She was adorable. “Just call me Iruka, Temari. And sometimes being caught is crucial to the prank.” None of the children looked convinced, but Iruka would sway them. “Say you pull an amazing prank and you want everyone to know what you accomplished. How else are you going to ensure this if you don’t get caught? Sure, you could claim that you were the mastermind, but anyone can claim that. However, if you make it apparent that you wanted to get caught, people might discount your skills or say you just want attention.” Kankuro looked enthused at this while Temari still seemed skeptical. Gaara just looked content to be outside with Iruka and not have anyone call him a monster. Gaara had pretty low standards for happiness currently. 

Sensing that Temari was still rather devoted to rules, Iruka decided to spin the matter in another way. “Pranking skills can be easily transferred to setting traps on missions. If you need to cause a distraction so your teammates can launch a sneak attack or make an escape with your client, a loud prank that draws the enemy’s attention is a good start. But if you just leave it at that, the distraction will not be long enough. So you may have to get caught without it looking like you want to get caught in order to complete your mission.” At this Temari started paying closer attention. Iruka smiled. Figuring out what to say to make people listen to him had always been a skill of his that had helped him out in quite a few tight spots. Nice to know it could help him here. If he could convince three children with wildly different interests and personalities of the importance of pranking, he could convince them to get along with each other. Eventually. 

“We are going to start out by learning how to properly set and place a tripwire,” Iruka explained.

“I thought we were going to get to dump buckets of paint on people,” Kankuro complained. He looked rather put out at not being able to cause chaos and property damage right away.

“Properly creating the trigger is essential for any prank or trap. You have to get that down before moving on to the fun stuff.” When no more protests were given, Iruka moved on. “Tripwires are the most basic and most dependable method of deploying a prank. The premise is simple: you target steps on the wire, which pulls the attached wire, and the prank activates. However, since they are so simple, most shinobi are on the lookout for them, so you have to get creative about where and how you lay them out. Camouflaging your wire into the surrounding area is a good start. I paint some of my tripwires shades of brown and yellow and will even glue sand to them in case I need to use one in the desert. However, no matter how well you make your wire blend in, some experienced shinobi will always be able to see it, if they are looking carefully. Any ideas about how to combat this?”

“Kill them while they are scanning their surroundings,” Gaara automatically responded. Both Temari and Kankuro scooted a little bit away from him. Iruka winced. And they had just relaxed a little too. Oh well, he could still spin this.

“While taking advantage of your opponent’s hesitation is a valuable strategy, we are assuming this wire is for a prank and you don’t want to kill your allies unless you have a valid reason.” Gaara nodded seriously and scrunched his nose up in thought.

“Could you set other more obvious wires so they were too busy avoiding those to see the real one?” Temari ventured.

Iruka smiled. He would make a prankster out of her yet. “Yes, that’s a good idea. But you have to be careful not to make your other wires too obvious or your target will grow suspicious. This balancing act takes a while to get down, but once you have mastered it, you can trap most shinobi. Other ideas?”

“Don’t give them time to check their surroundings,” Kankuro stated.

Iruka nodded. “That’s the one I would recommend starting with. Shinobi are naturally apprehensive and mission-oriented people. If you know they are in a hurry to complete a task or you can make them think they are being pursued, they might slip up in their haste. A good way to do this for pranks is to set up near, but not too near, the mission desk. Shinobi coming back from the mission desk are probably tired from their missions and want to get home as quickly as possible. They also typically feel a sense of security once they get into the village after being in hostile territory. All these factors combine to make them less vigilant than they usually are. However, the reverse is true for shinobi headed toward the mission desk for their orders. They are typically well-rested and more paranoid because they are getting into the mindset necessary for their mission. So you have to find a space where people coming from the mission desk will pass but ones going to it will not. To know this, you must observe patterns of behavior without letting anyone know what you are up to.” Iruka paused in his explanation and glanced at his listeners. Kankuro was dramatically leaning forward, totally immersed in Iruka’s words. Temari did not look as obviously interested, but she never glanced away or gave any other sign that she was bored. Gaara simply absorbed the information as usual.

“So we are going to start practicing how to set a tripwire. Once you have gotten that down, we can talk about location and substance of pranks,” Iruka concluded.

“Iruka,” Temari asked hesitantly, “you mentioned there were other methods of setting traps. What are some of those?”

“Most other techniques involve either a time release or rely on a physical cue,” Iruka explained. “Most exploding tags have a built in time release so it will activate a set time after it is activated. The trick with those is figuring out how to get your target to stand where you want them to when you want them to. Other traps have seals that react to increased weight or body-heat. People cannot avoid these as easily as a tripwire but they are a lot more complicated to set and few people know how to make the seals properly for them.” Iruka smiled conspiratorially. “I know to to set them, and I’ll show you if you want.” Temari nodded eagerly, excited to learn something new. “But that will have to wait until you have the basics down.” 

After explaining the basics, Iruka gave each kid a roll of ninja wire and let them experiment on their own. He figured this would be the best way for them to learn and it would give him a chance to observe each one’s style. Temari, unsurprisingly, was very methodical. She tried to replicate exactly what Iruka had done but got frustrated easily if things did not work out the way she wanted them to, although she kept at it. Kankuro took Iruka’s instructions and immediately sought to adapt them to suit his own style. It led to him accidentally yanking himself off his feet once or twice, but he seemed to be having a good time so Iruka let him be. Gaara had selected a spot a little ways away from his siblings. He was using his sand to diagram what he wanted to do before actually trying it. Keeping these three personalities entertained and together was going to be a challenge, Iruka noticed. After just a short time around Temari and Kankuro, he knew they needed guidance almost as much as Gaara did. Plan "reconcile Gaara with his siblings so they could have a family" was a go, Iruka decided. If the Kazekage wasn’t going to take care of his children, he couldn’t complain when Iruka did. (He ignored the voice in his head telling him that was patently untrue and this was going to get him killed.)

After letting the siblings mess around for about an hour, he gathered them together. “So what did we learn?”

“Traps are awesome and hanging upside down makes my head feel funny,” Kankuro responded promptly. He had ended up upside four separate times, in increasingly convoluted ways. Iruka honestly had no idea how he had managed it. The last time, when Iruka had to go over and help get him down, it had taken him several minutes to figure out which wires were relevant and which were just distractions. If Kankuro ever mastered the basics, he could probably create a trap few could figure out even if they did see it beforehand.

“Despite the relative simplicity of the design, how much tripwire I used and the force I used mattered a great deal,” Temari observed. She was the opposite of Kankuro. She figured out the basics relatively quickly but kept her traps pretty simplistic.

“It made more sense once I actually tried it,” Gaara contributed. He had spent a while with his sand diagram before even attempting to set one and quickly realized that all his planning was useless because he had not taken into account how much force he needed to use in order to keep the tripwire level but easily broken should someone brush by it.

“All good observations. Like many things, you get better at this by practice. And yes, Kankuro, you have to practice the basics not whatever insane scheme you came up with.” Kankuro pouted slightly at that, before catching himself and straightening up. Iruka did not comment. In time, hopefully, they would trust him with their emotions. “Now, let’s take a break from this and throw some shruniken.”

For the rest of the afternoon, Iruka had the kids alternate between working on trip-wires and practicing basic shinobi skills. He did not have them spar, fearing Gaara would lose control if he felt threatened and scare his siblings off. By the time dinner rolled around, all three children were exhausted. Iruka whipped up some noodles and occasionally prodded whoever looked like they were about to fall asleep in their bowl. 

As the sun set, Temari and Kankuro’s minder returned. She seemed shocked at how content all of them looked. However, she led Temari and Kankuro away without saying anything, as Iruka waved good-bye. He sensed all of the anbu but one take off. 

Gaara retreated to his room, probably worn out from being around multiple people all day. Iruka figured he would probably migrate to Iruka’s room sometime soon but took the chance just to calm down and center himself. All and all, the day went pretty well, he reflected. No one had gotten hurt and the siblings had at least interacted in a non-hostile manner. This was a good start, he decided.

Just as he was about to lay down for bed, he sensed the anbu on roof begin to move. A second later, Scorpion appeared in his room. He did not radiate hostile intent but seemed amused. “So pranking?” he questioned.

Iruka shrugged, “It’s not like anyone warned me that they were coming and I needed something to keep them occupied. I think it went rather well.”

Scorpion actually let loose a laugh. “You do realize we have to report to the Kazekage about everything that happens doing these little get-togethers, right? This is going to be one of the more interesting reports I have given in my time.”

Iruka shrugged again, “Like I said, it worked and the kids all had fun and learned valuable skills. What cause would the Kazeakge have for objecting?”

Scorpion shook his head. “I have a feeling my life is going to get a lot more hectic from here on out.” Iruka decided not to comment. It’s not like he was trying to cause trouble. But what did they expect to happen when they gave him three kids who had virtually no positive influences? “Good luck. I look forward to seeing what you get up to next.” With that Scorpion body-flickered back to the roof. Seconds later the door creaked up and Gaara stepped in. Iruka beckoned him over, performed a slight readjustment on his seal, and tucked the red-head into bed with him. Today was a good start, Iruka thought as he drifted off to sleep, and I won’t give up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sibling bonding!!! Kind of. They're getting there. 
> 
> I have way too much fun writing Kankuro. Anyone who looks at a giant wooden puppet full of poisons and traps and thinks this will be my main weapon has to have a chaotic personality. Temari is a little harder for me. I imagine at this age, she constantly felt that as the oldest in a family with a dead mother and pretty-much absent father, she had to act mature and keep the peace. But I think she also has a more mischevious side that I am trying to draw out.
> 
> This is how I imagined the anbu's reactions.   
Everyone other than Scorpion: Ah should we stop them? We're not sure if he should be teaching the Kazekage's children this stuff.  
Scorpion: You want to got down there and stop them.   
They look down again and see Kankuro upside down again, shrieking with laughter and also waving around a kunai.   
You know what, we're good. But who has to tell the Kazekage?  
Silence for a moment.  
Everyone promptly plays the ninja version of the nose goes game to determine what poor sod has to report this.
> 
> Is my explanation of how tripwires work complete bullshit? Yes. If that is not how they work I invoke magic ninja physics rules instead of acknowledging that I had one semester of physics in high school and never touched it again so I have no clue what I am talking about.


	9. Chapter 9

Gaara and Iruka fell back into their ordinary routine pretty quickly. Wake up, eat, walk in the desert, eat, practice ninja and pranking skills, eat, work on Gaara’s seal, and bed. It was calming for both of them to revert back to their routine after all the craziness of the last few days. Gaara continued to practice hard and was making progress on his tripwire. Iruka was proud of him for that but even more proud when Gaara asked him if he thought Temari and Kankuro were also improving their techniques. This was the first time Iruka had heard Gaara ask after his siblings, or anyone really, in a non-threatening manner. 

A week after Iruka had first met the other two siblings, he jolted awake. It was a little before he usually awoke, but more importantly, he could feel someone trying to get through his seals. They had not been automatically rebuffed so they must have been familiar but Iruka could not think of anyone who would try to barge into the house of the jinchurki at sunrise without prior notice. Of course, the mystery did not last for long.

“Get back here you idiot. He is the one teaching us traps, do you really think his house is going to be undefended?” A voice outside the window hissed out.

“Shhh. He’ll hear us. And it’s not like I’m going to try anything. I’m just bored and Iruka’s cool.”

“There are better ways to solve your boredom than bothering them when we shouldn’t be here.”

“Ha, you could have easily stopped me or informed someone before I left, but instead you came with me. Admit it, you’re just as curious as I am about what they do all day.”

This was met with a (rather unconvincing) hissed denial and what sounded like a wrestling match broke out. Iruka glanced down at Gaara who was staring up at him with wide eyes. He looked curious and a little nervous. Iruka sighed and forced himself out of bed. “Come on, let’s go wrangle your wayward siblings before someone comes by and sees them.”

Gaara obediently followed as Iruka slipped out the backdoor and snuck up behind Temari and Kankuro. Their wrestling match had apparently been decided and the two were brushing themselves off. Iruka paused around the corner of the house. Close enough to hear, but far enough away that neither siblings sensed him. Iruka noted that as another thing to work on soon.

“Do you think Iruka will be alright with us being here?’ Kankuro sounded more hesitant than Iruka had ever heard him.

Temari paused before scoffing and assuring Kankuro that of course, Iruka wouldn’t mind their presence. Kankuro did her the service of not mentioning how her voice shook. 

“Think Gaara will mind us being here?” Kankuro asked. “He seems really possessive of Iruka and he doesn’t like us and I never cared about him before but he’s different now. He didn’t act like the monster Father described him as when he said he was getting rid of him. Do you think we were wrong?”

Gaara had tensed up beside Iruka. But when he glanced down, Gaara did not look like he had taken offense to Kankuro’s words or wanted to hurt his brother. Instead, his expression was closer to the one he wore when Iruka said he would stay with him. Hope, Iruka identified, smiling softly. 

“We should get to know him better,” Temari said decisively. “Having sufficient information is essential to completing your objective and I don’t think we have been given all the relevant information. Despite everything, he is our brother and maybe we owe it to him to try instead of just ignoring him on our infrequent visits. Besides,” she continued smirking, “if he's anything like you, he’s probably hopeless and needs all the support he can get.”

“Yeah let’s- Hey!” Kankuro protested. “I’m not hopeless. I’m not the one who keeps flying into walls.”

“Listen you,” Temari looked ready to restart their wrestling match. At this Iruka, slipped out of the shadows. Both kids immediately jerked their heads to face him and their eyes yet wide. Iruka chuckled and shook his head, feeling Gaara grab his pants leg as he did.

“If you are going to sneak up on a ninja household, this is not the way to do it. You set off my barrier seals the minute you stepped past the gate and even if you hadn’t, your arguing would have alerted me to your presence. Now, I don’t believe you two are due to visit for a while yet, what brings you here?”

Temari and Kankuro exchanged a look, trying to figure out how much he had heard and who had to explain their presence. Finally, Kankuro stepped forward slightly to said, “We were bored and none of our teachers show us anything interesting for us to practice, unlike you. We don’t have lessons today and there are only so many times Temari can beat me at shogi before we both want to murder each other and die of boredom simultaneously. We decided to come and keep Gaara and you company.” He smiled while finishing, as if trying to convince Iruka that he was doing them a big favor and please could they stay? 

Iruka sighed and glanced down at Gaara. While he stuck to Iruka like glue still, he seemed fine his siblings’ presence. With that Iruka came to a decision. “Alright, you can stay with us today.”

Kankuro let out an excited yell and Temari grinned. Iruka gestured for them to come inside. He set to work making breakfast, guessing Temari and Kankuro had not eaten before sneaking out. As he put on the rice cooker, he kept half an ear towards the conversation at the table. Kankuro was trying to brag about how far he had progressed on his traps, with Temari interjecting stories about some of the mishaps that he had had. Of course, Kankuro had to fire back with embarrassing stories about Temari’s attempts. Gaara would occasionally mention something about his own attempts. After Iruka yelled at them to not fight in the kitchen, Kankuro switched tracks to asking Gaara if Iruka had given him any extra advice (which of course he had) and then pestered Gaara, trying to get him to spill it.

After a rather noisy breakfast, the group made their way out into the desert. Iruka made sure they stayed closer to the village than usual today. He had sensed three more anbu settle on the roof during breakfast, so he assumed the Kazekage and the caretaker of Temari and Kankuro knew the children were with him. But he did not want to risk straying too far away should something go wrong or someone suddenly turn up to take the older siblings back. While they walked, Iruka shared the beginnings of his cacti and other desert plant-life rant with Temari and Kankuro. Temari looked impressed at the sheer range of knowledge Iruka had and at how many facts Gaara knew. Kankuro was not as interested, except when Iruka would mention a particular plant was useful for a poison. Definitely a future puppeteer, Iruka decided. 

After a quick lunch, Iruka took them to the backyard to practice their tripwires. While he had observed Gaara steadily improving over the last week, he noticed a great deal of progress in the other two as well. Kankuro still got caught up in overly complicated designs, but he had settled down a little bit and at least tried to start with the basic pattern Iruka had shown them. Temari’s were better technically and Iruka figured that was all he could expect. She didn’t seem as interested as her brothers in tripwires themselves, probably treating them as a stepping stone to reach more advanced techniques. Once all three could reliably set a tripwire (which shouldn’t take too much longer), Iruka would indulge her. They spent the rest of the afternoon working on traps and throwing shruinken. After dinner, Iruka sent Temari and Kankuro back to their house and collapsed into bed. Managing three kids with vastly different skillsets and personalities was exhausting. He didn’t know how academy teachers handled 30 of them at a time.

But Iruka soon became used to it because Temari and Kankuro were not going anywhere. At least three times a week, they would come over, bug Iruka to teach them more traps, and hang out with Gaara. They hardly ever stayed the whole day, due to the demands of their lessons. But they would come over in the late afternoon and get a couple of hours of practice in before dinner and pretty much every time they had a free day, they would show up at the crack of dawn. Since no one ever showed up to tell Iruka off, he just kept teaching them more pranking skills and started working on basic taijutsu. While Temari and Kankuro got other lessons from people way better at combat than Iruka, they were already focused on their specialties: Temari and her fan and Kankuro and his puppets. While Iruka understood the importance of these, he felt that skipping the basics was bad for their survival. He had survived several encounters using techniques he was taught in the academy because most opponents assumed he was going to try and high-level jutsu and didn’t adequately guard themselves against a leg-swipe or quick elbow to the head. 

So Iruka went over the basics with them. What he was most surprised by was the lack of complaints about his lessons. He remembered when he was younger that he would get bored with practicing the same techniques over and over again and want to try something fancier even though he still lacked the foundation necessary for more complicated moves. But all 3 kids seemed content to practice whatever he came up with day to day. Sure, Kankuro sometimes tried to convince Iruka to let them try out a prank and Temari kept pestering him to teach her some seals and even Gaara would sometimes use his sand instead of the technique they were practicing that day. Overall, however, there was a lot less complaining than Iruka anticipated.

“They like you so much that they would probably not complain if you told them they were going to meditate for hours on end,” Scorpion said to Iruka one night. The anbu had taken to checking in with Iruka at least once a week to see how things were going. While Iruka knew Scorpion observed everything anyway, the conversations were nice. Since becoming Gaara’s caretaker a couple of months ago, he had barely spoken to anyone above the age of ten. Previously Iruka had never had many friends but he would at least talk to people at the market or mission desk. Now, he had strict orders to keep Gaara away from densely populated areas. Of course, he planned on breaking that instruction as soon as he was sure Gaara would not have a freakout, but for now, he was on his own. His conversations with Scorpion helped keep him sane and inform him of what was going on in the rest of the village. 

“What- that’s not true. I know Gaara is very fond of me, but Temari and Kankuro? Really?” Iruka denied.

Scorpion snorted, “You really have no idea of your worth do you, kid.” Iruka opened his mouth to object to the kid label, but Scorpion continued on, “You are the first person beyond Yashamaru to actually try to get to know Gaara and not just treat him as a weapon. Even Yashamaru never took a real interest in Temari and Kankuro or developing a good relationship between the siblings. Temari and Kankuro have their caretakers and teachers, but no one who just asks them how their days went or teaches them stuff without constantly iterating that they must not damage the reputation of the Kazekage.” Iruka made a face at that, thinking the Kazekage did not have much of a good reputation in the first place. “The lack of complaining has more to do with their fondness for you than their enthusiasm for basic taijutsu. Expect more in the future when they have become used to your presence and aren’t worried you will abandon them at the first sign of trouble.”

Iruka greatly resented Scorpion when his prediction turned out to be true. By the second month of Temari and Kankuro coming around on a regular basis had passed, the kids complained all the time and tried to convince Iruka to teach them more advanced techniques they weren’t ready for.

For about a week, Iruka’s vocal cords got quite the workout. At every opportunity, Temari was insisting he show them more seals, Kakuro was complaining about whatever they were working on that day, and even Gaara insisted he didn’t need taijutsu practice because the sand could always protect him. Iruka had no clue what was up with them. They went from almost no complaining to almost endless complaining and Iruka did not know how to respond. So he yelled. A lot. When he tried questioning Gaara, the boy would not give him a clear answer. He just hoped they would get it out of their systems soon enough and go back to being the adorable hellions they usually were.

And suddenly they were. Sure there were a few complaints and dragging of feet here and there. But by and large, they had calmed down. On the second day of their newly restored peace, Iruka heard Temari enter the kitchen while he was cooking dinner. He had left the kids outside to continue practicing, trusting that they could not get into too much trouble in the time it took him to cook. He turned to ask her if Kankuro had accidentally set something on fire or something when he caught a look at her face. She looked more serious and determined than he ever remembered seeing her. Iruka had a feeling she was not here to ask if he needed help with dinner. He quickly threw up his silencing barrier, making sure it excluded both the anbu and the two boys in the backyard. His life had enough drama right now without having misunderstandings about overheard conversations.

Turning the soup down to low so it would not burn, he gestured for her to sit down at the table. She did and Iruka took his seat across from her. Immediately Temari took a deep breath in looked Iruka dead in the eye and said, “You haven’t left yet.” It sounded more like an accusation than a statement of fact.

Iruka was taken aback. “Of course not. Someone needs to look after Gaara and it is my mission.”

Temari was already shaking her head, “No it’s not. None of the other people even tried to connect with Gaara. I saw one of the mission scrolls. The objective isn’t to protect Gaara. It’s to protect everyone else from Gaara. Gaara is more stable than I’ve ever seen him. He smiled at me yesterday when we worked together to complete a trap. Despite how loud Kankuro is and his complete disregard for personal space, Gaara has never once threatened him since you’ve been here. He used to do that all the time even when Kankuro was on his best behavior. None of what you are doing makes sense. Father says we shouldn’t care about Gaara because it might be our job to kill him someday if he keeps getting out of hand. Everyone I’ve ever seen was afraid of Gaara. Even Uncle Yashamaru told us to be careful around him. But you’ve never acted like that. When Gaara gets mad, you don’t flinch back but go towards him and try to help him sort through whatever is bothering him. And I don’t understand because Father says he’s dangerous and a weapon and our caretakers say we have to learn to work with him for the good of the village and you say he’s our brother and we should care about each other but what if Father’s right? I probably could have hurt Gaara before you came along but now all I think about is how he has Mom’s eyes and pouts when he thinks you aren’t paying enough attention to him. I don’t know who to listen to or what to believe. I need to protect my village and my family but Gaara is part of that family and how do I reconcile that my Father told me I might have to kill my brother when he isn’t even a genin yet?” As her speech progress, Temari talked faster and faster. She took deep gulps of air once she finished and looked at Iruka with tears in her eyes.

Iruka desperately wanted to gather the girl up in his arms and tell her that everything would be alright. But he knew he could not do that. Even if he could promise he would protect her and her siblings (which he couldn’t- one chunin against all the resources of the Kazekage would not triumph no matter how crafty Iruka was), that would not win over Temari. She was the strategist, the rule-follower, the protector. Her and Kankuro had looked out for each other all their lives and were used to Gaara being outside their dynamic. If Iruka wanted to convince her that Gaara was not a threat to her and Kankuro and that she should welcome into their sibling bond, he needed to supply reasons and justifications not just pretty words. The same principle applied to convincing her he was not going anywhere if he could help.

Iruka closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling Temari’s gaze upon him. He needed to get this conversation right. If not, Temari would pull back out of reach and Kankuro would follow. Iruka opened his eyes and met Temari’s gaze head-on before beginning. 

“No one expected me to last more than two weeks at this job, even me. The Kazekage gave it to me because I was not strong in the ways he thinks shinobi should be and so had no use in his eyes. All shinobi are ultimately disposable but me even more so since I was a clanless orphan with no special skills. I packed up my apartment and came here expecting Gaara to kill me. Have you heard about how most shinobi will have letters written to loved ones in case they die on a mission and will update them before particularly dangerous ones?” He waited until Temari nodded before continuing. “I didn’t even bother writing those. Never had in fact. I had no one to say goodbye to. Even though I have lived here most of my life, most still view me as an outsider and don’t trust me.”

He paused, debating how much to tell her before deciding to just put everything on the table. “The only family I’ve ever known were my parents. The brought me here from Mist because they wanted a better life for me. I loved them so much. Gaara killed them when I was 12.” He heard Temari gasp in shock. “They were trying to fix his seal. I didn’t even know what happened to them at the time. All I knew was that they left for a mission involving a seal they showed me and a week later a jonin was outside my door telling me my only family was dead. I didn’t piece together what must have happened until last year when rumors about Gaara and his fits increased after Yashamaru’s death.”

“I came here expecting to meet a monster, but all I found was a scared boy. He was obviously lonely and had no idea how to interact with people without threats or bloodshed, but I could not find the unfeeling monster everyone portrayed him as. Instead, he reminded me of myself. We were both so lonely, mistrusted by the people around us, and without anyone to confide in. Gradually, I let go of my fear and hatred and just tried to connect with Gaara as Gaara, not as the junchuriki of the One-tails. I understood he did not really want to hurt others, he just felt like he had no choice and no one explained anything to him. I’m not saying it is easy, but in the end, it is worth it. I always wanted younger siblings. To have someone who would look up to me even when I couldn’t master a jutsu that everyone else in the class could. To have someone to protect and care for. And I found that in Gaara.”

“Temari,” Iruka continued, “I’m not saying everything is magically going to improve. Gaara is still dangerous and could hurt the people around him. I can’t promise that he will never lash out at you or Kankuro and end up hurting you. A couple of days before I met you for the first time, Gaara nearly killed me. It was a bad day and the One-tails was influencing him more than normal. He told me he would use my blood to appease it.” Iruka decided not to tell Temari Gaara used to call it Mother. “I told him about how he has the One-tails inside him and promised to stay by his side if he would let me. I passed out and woke up in the hospital. When I got back here, I found Gaara curled up in the corner of my room with my sleeping yukata thrown over him. He apologized and begged him not to leave him.”

Iruka paused and allowed Temari a second to process this, “I am not telling you this to make you feel guilty. You have been told specific information about Gaara and your role in his life. I’m not telling you that you have to reach the same conclusion I did. It is completely valid to still be wary of Gaara. But please don’t let what your Father has told you be the only information you believe. Gaara has changed just in the short time I have known him. He is as human as the rest of us and capable of so much good as well as incredible destruction. So I will not leave his side by choice. He needs someone who believes in him and will help him up when he falls. I can be that person. He’s the closest thing I’ve had to family since my parents died and I know you understand how protective older siblings can be.”

With that Iruka went back to preparing dinner. He sensed Temari needed time to process everything he just said and pushing her right now would not help anything. Instead, he removed the silencing barrier, finished the meal, and called the boys in. Temari stayed quiet throughout dinner but Iruka was able to keep Kankuro and Gaara distracted by asking them about what prank they wanted to try and pull off first, which launched a lively debate that carried them through until the two older children had to leave for the night. As Iruka laid down with Gaara beside him that night, he hoped he had gotten through to Temari. Gaara needed his siblings and in a way, they needed him to. Iruka hoped they would realize this soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me writing one of the longest chapters I have ever written: You know what this needs? Another emotional conversation.
> 
> So Temari and Kankuro are here to stay now. I love writing them and their dynamic with each other and Gaara too much to let them show up only once every other month. In canon, Temari and Kankuro did an incredibly fast turn around from this is a demon who is probably going to kill us to this is our baby brother and if you fucking breathe on him wrong I will fight you. I figured that process would occur pretty similarly when they were kids but that they might feel more concerned about their father's opinion so feel slightly hesitant.
> 
> Next chapter they finally unleash their prank on the unsuspecting villagers of Sand. They have no idea what they are about to face.


	10. Chapter 10

“Okay, does everyone know their roles?” Iruka asked. Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara all nodded seriously. Iruka was finally letting them pull their first prank on unsuspecting shinobi the next day. They had been working hard for the last week and Iruka felt like they were ready. Besides, it was a fairly simple plan. Iruka wanted the kids to get a feel for what was necessary to properly pull off a prank before they tried anything more complicated. 

Iruka and Gaara would be stationed as near to the mission desk as they could get with the Kazekage’s permission. Rather begrudgingly he had recently allowed Iruka to bring Gaara near other people, with the warning that if Gaara hurt anyone he would have Iruka’s head, quite literally. Iruka agreed instantly, confident that Gaara could control himself. They were partly a distraction since Iruka figured most shinobi would devout part of their attention to keeping an eye on them, but mostly Iruka wanted Gaara to feel like he was part of the prank even though he was not the one setting it up. Temari and Kankuro had also allowed Gaara to choose which type of tripwire they were going to use, and he seemed content with that. 

Temari and Kankuro would leave their house a little bit before usual, telling their caretaker that Iruka had asked them to collect some plants for him on their way over. They would then sneak into the street by the mission desk. Over the lunch hour, the streets were pretty deserted so they could hopefully set up their trap without being caught. Iruka had little doubt that the anbu would know exactly what they were doing but they had not interfered with Iruka teaching them all these pranking techniques so Iruka took that as implied permission. They had to have known he would let loose his students on the general public eventually. If they hadn’t stopped him at the beginning, they had no right to complain now. 

The design of the trap itself was also simplistic. Iruka had created storage tags filled with paint. Kankuro and Temari would attach the tags on one of the buildings to the east of the mission desk. They used a paint-filled tag instead of just a paint can since Iruka doubted any shinobi worth their salt would miss an ominous paint can floating above their heads. The tags were camouflaged of course. Then they would run a line of ninja wire from the tag across the street underneath. Once someone stepped on it, the tags would release all the paint stored in them onto the people below. It was chaotic enough to satisfy Kankuro, the seal was interesting enough to keep Temari engaged, and Gaara was happy that he got to pick the tripwire and paint color. Plus, Iruka believed they could pull it off without anyone knowing for sure it was them. After Temari and Kankuro set the trap up, they would double back so it looked like they were coming from the gardens, picking up the bundles of plants that Gaara and Iruka would pick that morning to make their cover story more believable. Then they would find Gaara and Iruka and have a nice picnic while waiting for someone to trip their prank. 

The hardest part had been convincing the kids not to claim credit right away. Iruka had explained to them that plans don’t usually work out quite the way they might have hoped, particularly when it is the first time they had attempted something like this. They would launch this prank, learn from anything that went wrong, and then do an even bigger prank. If that one went off well, then they could take credit for it. The kids were still not happy with this but they were won over by the promise of a bigger prank in the near future.

Iruka shooed Temari and Kankuro back to their own house as the sunset and went to sleep earlier than usual since he had to get up early in order to collect the plants necessary. 

Iruka woke up before dawn the next day and made a quick breakfast before hurrying Gaara out of the house. They made their way to the garden. Since water was so scarce in Sand, the village collectively had one garden which mainly grew plants necessary for medicines or poisons. Iruka picked a few of the more common plants that did not need to be used right away after being picked. Although these were mainly a cover, he would still make use of them since he hated wasting resources. While gathering various plants, he told Gaara what each one could be used for and how to recognize them if he came across them in the wild. He particularly focused on medical uses. He had noticed that Gaara had taken an interest in whatever medical knowledge Iruka could teach him, which was admittedly rather limited. He wondered if he should introduce Gaara to Mari. On the one hand, she did not seem as prejudiced against Gaara as most of the other villagers and would definitely be able to answer more questions than Iruka could. On the other hand, Iruka was still terrified of Mari and worried what skills she would teach an impressionable Gaara. Realistically, Iruka knew he would have to introduce them someday but decided to leave that as a problem for future-Iruka.

Once they had the alibi for Temari and Kankuro ready, the pair headed out into the desert until lunch-time. Then they returned to the house and packed up food for their picnic. By the time they had settled on a portion of the wall surrounding the village that had a clear view to where the prank would take place, Temari and Kankuro had joined them. Both looked flushed with victory and were giggling to themselves frequently. Hopefully, no one had paid attention to their odd behavior on their way over here or their cover would be blown. 

Iruka encouraged all of them to sit down and enjoy their lunch. Just as they were finishing up, the post-lunch rush hurried towards the mission desk. All three kids leaned forward in anticipation as Iruka sighed behind them. They really needed to have a conversation about subtlety.

They did not have to wait long to see the fruits of their efforts. A chunin Iruka vaguely recognized hurried towards the mission desk with a tall stack of paperwork. Her foot caught the tripwire and released the paint over everyone below. Iruka winced, feeling slightly bad about whoever would have to redo all that paperwork. However, seeing all three kids smile, he decided it was worth it. 

The street was in absolute chaos. Everyone had been drenched in bright red paint and were yelling at each other, trying to figure out who was responsible and more importantly, how difficult would this be to wash out? Given the large commotion, numerous other people had stuck their heads out of windows or came out into the street to see what was going on. As the chaos calmed down a bit, Iruka decided it was time to go. They would start looking for the perpetrators in earnest soon and they did not want to be around when they did. He didn’t think anyone remembered his love of pranks, but they were definitely not a common sight in this area of the village, so someone might be suspicious. Hopefully, people would forget they were ever there in the excitement. 

Iruka encouraged the kids to pack up and led them back to their house. As soon as they were inside, Kankuro yelled in excitement and started jumping up and down before almost tackling Temari and Gaara in a hug. “Did you see their faces? They didn’t know what hit them. That was amazing. When can we do it again?” Iruka was pretty sure Kankuro had not taken a breath at all in between talking. He was grinning broadly and had yet to release his siblings. Not that either of them seemed to mind. Temari was holding on tightly and expressing her excitement as well. Gaara, Iruka dared to say, looked happy. He held onto his siblings loosely, like he did not want to scare them off. 

Once they had calmed down a little bit, Kankuro seemed to realize what he had done and hurriedly released Gaara. Gaara’s face fell at that and he looked down towards the ground. Before Iruka stepped in, however, Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other and seemed to reach a decision. They each grabbed one of Gaara’s hands and pulled in further into the house, keeping up an excited stream of chatter about their prank. Iruka smiled, hearing Temari compliment Gaara’s paint color selection and then yell at Kankuro when he tried to start planning an even bigger and more destructive prank. Iruka was amused that her objection was that they did not have the necessary skills to pull something like that off yet and not that it would be wrong to do it. He had definitely succeeded in making pranksters out of them.

Iruka let them be for the next hour or so, not wanting to interrupt their bonding time. However, he imagined Gaara might feel overwhelmed by the constant noise and invasion of his personal space so he called them back to the kitchen to show them how to make a simple medical ointment out of their decoy herbs. Gaara had immediately attached himself to Iruka’s side but still engaged with his siblings without a problem. Neither Temari or Kankuro seemed to mind his behavior, instead bugging Iruka for his feedback on their prank and for more pranking lessons.

After dinner, Temari and Kankuro had to leave although both dragged their feet, complaining about having to go and come back every day. Iruka rolled his eyes at them and promised to teach them a basic seal the next day if they didn’t cause any more trouble. Suddenly he had two model children who offered to wash the dishes before leaving. 

Neither had given any indication of wanting to stay with Iruka and Gaara on a more permanent basis before. This prank must have really cemented their ties to one another. If they wanted to get closer, Iruka certainly wasn't going to discourage it. Already his mind was a whirl with anything that would need to happen for Temari and Kankuro to move in with them. They’d need a bigger house, obviously. This one barely fit two people, let alone four. Maybe Iruka could convince the Kazekage to let them move closer to the center of town? Gaara hadn’t had an incident in months. 

Of course, that brought up the problem of convincing the Kazekage to allow this in the first place. He doubted that man would listen to anything he said nor would he pay attention to the wishes of his children. Could Iruka talk Scorpion into interceding for them? The Kazekage must trust him to place him as the consistent guard of Sand’s jinchuriki (since it’s not like the Kazekage’s cares that Gaara is his son). Iruka could spin this as beneficial to the village. He could watch over all three children, thus freeing up their current caretakers for other missions. Increased contact would help them to function better as a unit, which would increase their mission efficiency. He wondered if he could convince the Kazekage that this exposure would make the Onetails calm down. He could find some way to spin that, right? He certainly wasn’t going to tell the Kazekage that he was fixing Gaara’s seal any time soon. He had an inkling that the only reason he has not gotten any complaints from the Kazekage so far is that he wanted to see how far Iruka could go and if he could make Gaara a valuable asset to the village. If the Kazekage feared the Onetails’ and Gaara, Iruka could keep the kids safe from his scheming for a while longer.

Of course, this whole plan depended on Gaara. If he was not ready to live with his siblings, Iruka would not force him. Nothing good could come of pushing him when he wasn’t ready. They were on the right path and Gaara grew more comfortable around them every day. Iruka would wait for him to be ready before implementing any co-habitation plans.

After Iruka adjusted his seal that night, Gaara looked lost in thought. “Gaara, is everything alright?” Iruka asked. “Did you enjoy pulling the prank off?”

Gaara nodded slowly. “It was enjoyable. I liked seeing everyone falling over themselves and cursing the people behind it-us.” Iruka grinned. The reactions of his victims were always one of his favorite parts too. Though nothing beat the sheer sense of satisfaction he got out of a successful prank. “Temari and Kankuro were happy too.” Gaara said, then continued in a confused tone of voice, “They hugged me. I liked that even more than pulling off the prank. Is that disappointing to you?”

Iruka immediately pulled Gaara close, “Not at all. I love pranking, yes. But I am more committed to seeing you happy. You want to know the real reason I taught you three my techniques?” Gaara shook his head. “I never had anyone to conspire with when I was your age. I didn’t have friends and I couldn’t pull off any of the elaborate pranks I dreamed of because I was worried about getting thrown out of the village. Yes, pranking is fun and I think it might be of use to you in the future, but more importantly, it gave you a common goal to work towards and it was something you could all learn together.”

Gaara remained silent for a while, processing what Iruka said. “You want me to get along with Temari and Kankuro.”

Iruka wouldn’t lie to him, “Yes, I do. But do not feel like you have to because of my wish. You have given them a chance lately, despite how they treated you earlier and that’s all I can ask of you.”

“I… don’t mind being around them. Temari is still scared of me. And Kankuro is so loud.” Iruka snorted. “But I wouldn’t mind if they stayed over more often. They’re nice, I guess. And it’s kind of nice having other people around to play with. Kankuro and I played catch the other day when Temari went in to help you with dinner. It was fun. And they let me pick the prank design.” Once Gaara got started, a whole slew of experiences came out. Soon enough, however, he settled down next to Iruka and drifted off. He still couldn’t really go to sleep but he could get to that hazy state between consciousness and sleep and that would have to do for now.

Iruka smiled. Plan reconcile Gaara with his siblings so they could have a family was a (tentative) success. He would continue to coax the three of them into working together and hope in time they would learn to trust each other. Now to work on convincing the Kazekage to let him bring Gaara around other people more frequently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is just constantly low-key plotting treason at this point.


	11. Chapter 11

Of course, since nothing in Iruka’s life goes the way he plans it, he gets urgent orders to report to the Kazekage’s office the next morning. An anbu (not Scorpion) dropped in through the window while Gaara and him were eating breakfast. She told him to report the Kazekage immediately and then vanished.

Iruka winced as he heard the sand began to move. It has not been this agitated since Gaara had almost killed him. This was not good. But when he turned around Gaara didn’t look angry. Instead, he looked scared. “Are you leaving?” he asked.

Iruka understood his concern. This would be the first time Iruka willingly left him since he had moved in. “I have to go. I owe the Kazekage my allegiance.”

Gaara didn’t look convinced, “You don’t like him.”

Iruka should probably watch what he said around the aggressively honest six-year-old. “My personal feelings about him aside, he could make our lives very difficult if I don’t obey him. So I will go and see what he wants. It is possible he will give me a mission that will take me outside the village. But I will come back before I leave and tell you. We can talk more than.”

Gaara didn’t look happy but he let Iruka leave.

Iruka hurried through the mission desk headquarters and towards the Kazekage’s office. The assistant instructed him to go in.

The Kazekage was seated at his desk, elbows deep in paperwork. He glanced up as Iruka entered, immediately putting down his pen and fixed Iruka with a glare. Iruka really did not want the Kazekage’s full attention. He would have been much happier if his superior had ignored him for a time. It’s odd the things he missed. 

“I have a mission for you,” the Kazekage stated. He pulled out a mission scroll and handed it to Iruka. He took it and glanced at it. The mission was nothing too complicated, just a B-rank escort mission for a minor noble. “You will leave at dawn tomorrow. The two other shinobi who will accompany you will meet you at the east gate.”

With that, the Kazekage picked up his pen again, signaling the conversation was over. Iruka was tempted to just leave and not cause conflict, but he needed to confirm something. “Sir, any number of shinobi could take this is a mission. Why are you taking me away from caring for Gaara to go on this?”

The Kazekage raised his eyebrow, “Are you questioning my decisions about how I allocate my shinobi?”

Well, yes I am, Iruka thought. It’s not like you don’t have a history of making poor decisions (like everything related to Gaara). But saying that would not get him anywhere except maybe on the sharp end of an anbu blade. “I was merely wondering if I could expect to return to my long-term mission after this mission or if you are planning on making other arrangements.” While trying to meet the Kazekage’s gaze calmly, Iruka was internally trying to figure out what he would do if the Kazekage pulled him away from watching Gaara. He wouldn’t just accept it. Gaara was better than he had been when Iruka had first met him, but he still had a long way to go. Iruka couldn’t implement his 15 step plan to make the villagers not see Gaara as a demon child and his 21 step plan to teach Gaara how to interact with other people if he wasn’t there. Temari and Kankuro were beginning to care for Gaara, but Iruka worried that without continued encouragement, they might revert back to all habits or maybe the Kazekage would prevent them from seeing Gaara altogether. But what could Iruka do? He didn’t have the power to oppose the Kazekage and he couldn’t just take Gaara and flee. Who would take them in? How would they escape the pursuers that were certain to follow? Gaara was the jinchuriki of Sand and the Kazekage's son. There was no way Sand would allow him to leave alive. That was no life for anyone, always looking over their shoulder and worried about where the next attack would come from, let alone a child. 

The Kazekage interrupted Iruka’s downward spiral of thoughts, “Once you return, you will resume your duties as Gaara’s caretaker. He will be otherwise watched over while you are gone. I have no intention of removing you from that post. At least for now.” He concluded ominously. Iruka quickly bowed and left, fearing that he might start shouting some rather uncomplimentary things if he was in the presence of that man any longer.

Iruka hurried back to the house he shared with Gaara. He had so much to do before he left. Since he had begun Gaara’s caretaker, he had not kept a mission pack ready to go. So he needed to put that together and make sure he had all of the weapons and seals he might need. Then, of course, he needed to explain the situation to Gaara in a way that would not make him freak out. He couldn’t even tell his charge how long he would be gone for since the mission scroll did not say and giving Gaara an inaccurate date was worse than giving him no date at all. Iruka couldn’t help but feel like the lack of date was intentional on the Kazekage’s part. This was just another test that was designed for Gaara to fail. Not that Iruka thought that would happen. Gaara had grown so much over the past few months. He could handle this. Hopefully.

Iruka continued his regiment of positive thinking until he arrived home. As soon as he came through the door, Gaara was there. Iruka managed to calm him down enough so that he could make some tea and throw up his silencing barrier before telling Gaara about his mission and mention the "other arrangements" for Gaara's care, whatever that meant. “I know this is not what you want. I don’t like it either. But the Kazekage has given me an order and I have to obey. I promise I will come back as soon as possible and you can show me all the progress you have made with designing traps.”

“You aren’t leaving for good?’ Gaara asked. “And you aren’t mad at me?”

Iruka smiled and picked Gaara up. “Of course not. I just have to go look after some spoiled noble for a few weeks and then I’ll be back. I would much rather spend time with you.”

Although Gaara obviously wasn’t happy, after Iruka assured him a few times more times that he was not leaving for good or because he didn’t want Gaara anymore, the boy accepted the situation.

“There is one thing that we need to talk about,” Iruka said seriously. “I know this is going to be a difficult time for you. But I need you to promise me that you will do your best not to hurt anyone. Some people don’t like that I am your guardian and might try to remove me if they think your control has not improved. I know it is hard with the Onetails in your head but I know you are stronger than it. If something does happen, we will deal with it when I get back. I will not be mad at you. But higher-ups are usually a pain to deal with and that will prevent us from getting back to our usual routine when I get back and could have long-term consequences. I won’t leave you by choice. But I don’t have a lot of power in the village. So if we want to stay safe, we need to play by their rules. Can you promise me you will try?”

“I promise. I will be good so when you get back you won’t have to deal with troublesome people. Just me. And Temari and Kankuro.” He added as an afterthought. Iruka was happy he was willing to include them at all. He had noticed that Gaara had started to view his siblings less as interlopers who were stealing Iruka’s attention from him and more as companions since their prank. 

“How do you gain power in the village?” Gaara suddenly asked.

Iruka was taken aback. Gaara had never expressed interest in any of the people in the village, let alone how it was run. “Well, you generally have to be someone powerful. Shinobi listen to those they respect and the best way to earn respect is to win fights against difficult opponents. That way you can prove that you can keep the village safe. The more missions you succeed at, the better. This proves you are dependable and loyal. Coming from a respected family or having a bloodline technique helps too. Why the sudden interest? Planning on becoming the Kazekage someday?” Iruka teased. 

Gaara made a face at that, “No, Too much paperwork and dealing with annoying people.” Iruka laughed. Of course, those were Gaara’s chief objections. Wait, how did he even know about paperwork?“I was just curious.” 

Iruka raised his eyebrow at that. Last time he had heard that explanation, Temari had been asking him about the effects of various plants and whether there were any non-deadly ones. Delighted that she was taking an interest, Iruak told her everything he knew about all kinds of non-deadly plants and how to identify them. The next weekend, Temari and Kankuro showed up earlier than usual and claimed their caretaker said they could stay all weekend. That instantly made Iruka suspicious since he was pretty sure their caretaker was still terrified of Gaara and didn’t want the other kids around him often. Turns out his suspicions were justified. Temari had dosed their caretaker with one of the plants Iruka had told her about, it was enough to knock him out for 2 days. Temari (and Kankuro who definitely encouraged this plan) was unrepentant. Their caretaker was not amused and blamed Iruka. Iruka was secretly proud and agreed with Temari that he should have noticed the poison. If a nine-year-old could incapacitate him, he really needed to work on basic shinobi skills.

However, Iruka could not imagine what damage Gaara could do with the information Iruka had provided. He was sure he would find out when he got back, but he would deal with that when the time came. For now, he was going to enjoy his last night with Gaara for awhile.

Gaara did not let Iruka out of his sight for the rest of the night. He followed Iruka around as he packed everything he needed and sat by his side as he sharpened his weapons and made the seals he needed to. Iruka made one final adjustment to Gaara’s seal that night before putting a stabilizing seal on it. He wished he could just keep adjusting the seal since they were close to where they needed to be for him to implement the new seal, but he was afraid of pushing too hard just before he left and Gaara having a breakdown while he was gone because the change had unforeseen side effects. The stabilizing seal would make sure the Onetails would not gain any influence while Iruka was gone and would hopefully help to keep Gaara’s mental state stable as well.

Iruka woke up just before sunrise. He gathered up his supplies and ate a quick breakfast with Gaara. Since Gaara could not walk with him to the village gate, Iruka had to say his good-byes now.

He crouched down so he was at eye-level with Gaara. “I should not be gone for more than a few weeks. The stabilizing seal should hold until I get back.” Iruka really hoped it would at least. There was no one who could help with it if things went wrong. “Stay safe and remember what we talked about last night. Keep practicing what I have taught you with your siblings. Don’t do anything too crazy while I am gone. If anything goes wrong, Scorpion, the anbu who usually watches over us, can help. If he is not available, go to the hospital and ask for Mari. She should be willing to help. Make sure to eat properly too. Don’t let Kankuro near the stove. Make sure Temari doesn’t practice her wind techniques in the house.” Once Iruka got started, it was hard to stop. He hated the idea of Gaara all alone in the house, with only limited visits by his siblings. He desperately wanted to ignore the Kazekage and stay but knew he could not. 

Gaara must have sensed that Iruka was working himself up into a panic. He threw his arms around Iruka and held on tight. “Love you. Stay safe.”

Iruka pulled Gaara even closer upon hearing those words. He knew Gaara had a complicated relationship with the word love and to hear him say it to him meant more than Iruka could possibly express. It gave him the confidence to leave. Gaara had grown so much over these last few months. He could survive a few weeks without Iruka.

“I love you too. I’ll try to come back home as soon as possible.” Giving Gaara one last squeeze, Iruka set him down and picked up his pack. He immediately turned and marched out the door without looking back; afraid that if he did, he would not have the strength to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is that parent leaving their kids with a babysitter for the first time except worse because there is no babysitter, he just has to trust his 3 gremlin children to not destroy the village while he is gone.
> 
> I am endlessly fascinated by the social hierarchy in shinobi villages so I found a way to work some discussion of that in, because why not.
> 
> So Belonging is getting an actual plot for the next few chapters (I know, I'm as surprised as you are), but it is essentially a filler plot. I need to get Iruka out of the village for a while for ... reasons. It will be worth it once we get there, I promise. Also, I get to try my hand at writing fight scenes.


	12. Chapter 12

Iruka made it to the east gate just as the sun rose. He had been so distracted when leaving the house that he had gone the wrong way for several minutes before realizing it and heading the right way.

He could make out two figures waiting by the gates. He cursed, hoping he had not kept his companions waiting long. It was never good to start off a mission by annoying the people who he had to work with for the mission’s duration.

“Good morning. I hope you were not waiting long.” Iruka greeted the two shinobi.

“No, we just got here.” Iruka guessed the woman who replied was the mission leader. He really should have asked the Kazekage for more details about this mission and his companions but he had been a little preoccupied worrying about Gaara’s reaction.

I’m Naomi,” she continued. “I am the mission leader. Before I tell you the specifics of the mission, I would like to know everyone’s specialties. I’ll start. I am a close-range combat specialist with a particular interest in swords.” Iruka could have guessed that considering she was carrying four that he could see. She probably had more hidden in seals. She looked to be about ten years older than Iruka. He didn’t remember seeing her before but consider their age and expertise differences, that wasn’t too surprising. 

“I’m Shingo,” the other shinobi introduced himself. “I am a long-range wind jutsu specialist.”. Unfortunately, Iruka did recognize him. He had been one of the shinobi who had gotten completely drenched in the paint from their prank. Iruka was pretty sure most of the cursing he had heard had come from him. Iruka would have to hope Shingo did not figure out who was responsible for the prank.

“I’m Iruka. I specialize in seals and barriers.” Naomi just nodded while Shingo raised his eyebrow. Iruka was used to that reaction. It was unusual to find a seals expert outside of the sealing division. Iruka had never been asked to join and he doubted he ever would. His method of sealing, passed down from his parents, did not mix very well with the methods the sealing division favored. 

“Our mission is to escort the son of a minor lord from the capital to his usual place of residence. His father has gotten several threats lately and he hired Sand to ensure his son’s safety for this journey. It will take us three days to reach the capital. There we will gather our client. The journey to his home should take about a week, absent unforeseen complications.” All three of them shared a glance at that. All missions had unforeseen complications. It was just a matter of how severe they were. “Once he has reached his home safely, our mission will be concluded and we can get back to Sand. Any questions?” Both Iruka and Shingo shook their heads. It was a pretty straight forward mission. They would figure out logistical things like watch duty on their way. 

Iruka was pleased. Even with a few skirmishes while escorting the son, the mission shouldn’t take more than two and a half to three weeks. He could get back to Gaara soon. Of course, as soon as he thought that, he tried to block it from his mind. Thinking like that was just asking for a S-class missing-nin to stumble upon them and kill everyone on the mission. Iruka would have to stay focused on the mission at hand and trust Gaara would be alright without him. After all, not coming back because he was distracted and got himself killed would not do anyone any good.

When they set up camp for the night, Iruka busied himself setting up various barriers around their campsite. One to detect chakra signatures that got close, a barrier seal that would protect them against surprise attacks, and sound dampening one that would prevent people from hearing them. Iruka racked his brains trying to remember if he usually set up anything else. He hadn't realized how much of an effect being village bound for months on end had had on him. This used to be second nature to him. He hoped it would come back to him once he got back into the swing of things. The last thing he needed was for his companions to think him rusty and report that to the Kazekage.

“Nice work,” Naomi told him when he returned to the campsite. “I’ve never seen seals like that before.” Iruka thanked her. Iruka tended to be a bit more creative with his seals that most people. He would never admit it, but he had developed half of them to help him with pranks. However, they translated very well to safeguarding a camp. The one that detected any chakra signature that came within a certain range had served as Iruka’s lookout when setting up pranks, for example. 

“Still, just to be safe, we will have a watch throughout the night. Shingo you’re on the first watch, Iruka you take second, and I’ll take third.” Iruka groaned internally. He hated the second shift. He always had trouble falling back asleep after his shift was over. Though he probably wouldn’t have slept well anyway. Iruka suspected he would find it difficult to fall asleep without Gaara’s warmth curled up next to him. 

“We should reach the capital by dusk tomorrow. Let’s review our assignment away from prying ears while we have the chance.” Naomi pulled out a scroll. “Here are copies of the letters that were sent to the lord. Iruka glanced over them. They were pretty standard, as far as threatening letters go. We’ll make you pay. You better watch your back. No one in your family is safe. Nothing that would point to a particular person or given indication about what they were so mad about. Oh well, their job wasn’t to find the person who sent these but to protect the lord’s son. 

"Iruka, I want you to stay close to the client,” Naomi instructed. “Can that seal you use to detect chakra signatures be affixed to a moving object? The client will be traveling in a carriage. ”

“Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem. It will have a smaller range and won’t be able to pick out anyone who can expertly hide their chakra signature, but it will still work,” Iruka responded.

“That will be fine. You are the last line of defense. If things go bad, get the client out and protect him, alright?” Iruka nodded. This instruction was standard for escort missions. Keeping the client safe was the number one priority and Iruka was often selected as the one who would take the client and run if things went south since his seals allowed him strong defensive capabilities and plenty of distractions to throw off pursuers. 

“Shingo and I will patrol around the carriage. Shingo, if we get engaged by an enemy with strong jutsu, try and lure them away from the client. I will hang back and take care of other attackers. I know I don’t need to tell you two to stay alert?” Naomi questioned sharply. Iruka and Shingo shook their heads. “Good. I wanted to lay out the plan and make sure we all understand our roles since we haven’t worked together before.”

After a thankfully uneventful night, the three continued on towards the capital. The next two days ran as smoothly as the first and they arrived in the early evening of the third day. They were immediately escorted to meet their client and his father. Iruka admittedly did not pay much attention to that meeting. Naomi as mission leader was in charge of assuring the noble (who Iruka had neglected to learn the name of) that they would keep his son safe. Iruka thankfully tuned in long enough to learn the son’s name was Asuka and that they were leaving at dawn tomorrow. Other than that he let himself wonder about his kids and how they were doing. Once the left the capital, they would be on high alert until they delivered the client to his destination. He could not afford to space out during that part of the mission so this was his last opportunity to worry freely. He hoped Gaara would not be too lonely. He doubted the Kazekage would assign him a temporary minder, which was honestly for the best. Gaara would get upset if he felt like someone was trying to take over Iruka’s position in his life. He just hoped that Temari and Kankuro were visiting often and taking care of Gaara and each other. He expected to come home to find that they had attempted to pull off another prank in his absence and had gotten caught. They had zero impulse control, no adult supervision currently, and a list of skills they wanted to test out. Iruka just hoped they didn’t do too much damage. But making their own mistakes was part of learning and he really couldn’t fault them for it. I’ll come back to you, he vowed, just keep yourselves safe for the next two weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is such a filler chapter and I'm sorry. Next week, you'll get to see me try my hand at writing fight scenes though. That should be entertaining.


	13. Chapter 13

As far as escort missions went, this one was not going too badly, Iruka thought. It was the third day of their journey. They had not been attacked yet. Their client was not too terrible either. Iruka has escorted many clients who did not stop complaining or trying to flirt with their escorts the entire journey. Asuka mainly kept to himself. Iruka couldn’t quite tell if he thought he was too good to associate with them or if he was just a quiet person. Honestly, it didn't matter. As long as Asuka did not make any trouble for them, Iruka really didn’t care what he thought of them. Iruka kept pace alongside the carriage, splitting his attention between the client and his barriers. Shingo completed circles around the area periodically to make sure no enemies had found them while Naomi stayed on the opposite side of the carriage, ready to engage anyone who got past Shingo.

This routine continued for the first four days. Soon after they got underway on the fifth day, however, Iruka felt someone cross this barrier about a mile from their current location. Moments later he felt three others follow. Not wanting to alarm Asuka if it was nothing he quickly gave a hand signal to Naomi who nodded. She signaled to Shingo to go scout but if they were enemy nin to fall back. Getting split up against superior numbers of unknown strengths would be the worst possible start to a fight.

Shingo immediately set off. Naomi and Iruka continued along the road, but Naomi had gotten her weapon scrolls out and Iruka had his barrier seals ready to go. Minutes later, they heard an explosion and soon after Shingo reappeared, bruised but otherwise alright. 

“Incoming,” was all he could say before the enemy nin appeared around them. Iruka automatically threw up his strongest barrier around Asuka’s carriage. Unlike the ones he had used when Gaara attacked him, this barrier could take several high-level jutsu attacks without shattering. However, since it was incredibly hard for Iruka to make these seals, he only had enough for two barriers of this caliber before he would be reduced to hurriedly throwing up barriers that shattered after one strong hit. He hoped they could take out all or most of their opponents before it came to that. Otherwise, Iruka would have to focus all of his attention on the barriers and be useless for the actual fight.

“Well, that’s interesting. You don’t see too many barrier experts around.” Iruka guessed the speaker was the “leader” of the group before them. He was large and had a scar that ran the length of his face and through his left eye. Iruka mentally dubbed him Scarface and then decided he had been spending too much time around young children and their terrible nicknaming habits. It wasn’t like Iruka had much room to talk. Iruka guessed he used earth style since his headband proclaimed him a missing nin from Rock. Two of the others were missing nin from Mist and the last was from Cloud. Someone must be paying them quite a lot for them to be willing to work together. “No matter. Everything breaks eventually.” Iruka had to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. Couldn’t they just mount their attack instead of engaging in useless posturing? They had to know the Sand nin were not going to back down.

Iruka soon got his wish as the Cloud nin launched her attack. She was fast and seemed to specialize in close combat given the speed at which she came after Shingo. Besides seeing him knock her aside with a gust of wind, Iruka could not pay attention to that fight as the remaining three attacked the carriage.

Naomi immediately engaged one of them while the other came straight for Iruka. The leader fell back and started complicated hand signs. They wouldn't be able to stop him in time anyway, so Iruka just focused on the Mist missing nin in front of him. He immediately sent a wave of water bullets at Iruka, who threw up a barrier in front of himself. He wanted to move so he could feel free to dodge the attacks without letting them hit and weaken the barrier around Asuka but needed to stay between the enemy and the client. 

Deciding it was worth the risk, since he could not hear how Naomi’s fight was going or see Shingo, Iruka darted forward and rolled to the side. As he was doing so, he tossed four barrier seals tied to kunai around his opponent, who was a beat too slow to react. The barrier closed around him and Iruka tossed in an exploding seal to finish off the job. After confirming the kill, he made to go help Naomi but before he could, the leader made his move. The area around the carriage turned into mud and the carriage, with Asuka in it, slide towards Scarface. Iruka immediately jumped on top of the carriage and pulled out every weapon he had on him. He had a feeling he was going to need them.

Scarface did not look upset that their initial plan failed or that one of his comrades was dead. Instead, he looked vaguely amused at Iruka’s actions and ran ahead of the carriage. The jutsu did not stop until they were out of sight from the rest of the fight. Iruka hopped down, keeping his body between Scarface and the carriage. He had a feeling he was strong enough to destroy Iruka’s barrier with only a couple of hits. 

The man smirked and proved him right by launching a jutsu that sent a mud wall right at the carriage. It knocked the carriage over on its side, although luckily it did not shatter the barrier. Iruka hoped Asuka was alright. That barrier also served as a one-way silencing seal so Iruka could not hear Asuka but Asuka could still hear what was going on outside. It was useful if Iruka was able to get inside the barrier and tell Asuka a getaway plan but right now it meant he had no way to check on him.

Before Scarface could launch another attack, Iruka sent a rain of kunai towards him. He responded by throwing up a mud wall to protect himself. But Iruka was already moving. While he could not use his locating technique to the fullest out here without as much chakra bouncing around, there was enough that he could get a rough estimate of his enemy’s position. He tossed two exploding tags on either side of Scarface’s position and just as he had hoped, the man jumped up. Iruka then launched another set of kunai just as Scarface emerged over the top of the wall. Several hit, leaving wounds on his arms and shoulders. However, this also served to make him angry, just as Iruka had hoped. Despite all the lectures shinobi had to sit through about controlling their emotions, Iruka had found that some would lose their cool when injured by an opponent who they saw as weaker themselves. 

His opponent immediately launched several low-level projectile jutsus, which Iruka dodged or guarded against with a temporary barrier. Just what is he trying to accomplish with these, Iruka wondered. He was used to be underestimated but there was no way this guy thought these techniques alone were enough to take him out. A trap of some kind maybe? Iruka shot back some kunai and kept an eye on the other’s movements. He kept up his stream of projectiles but also did some hand signs that seemed to have no effect.

Iruka perched on a tree limb to regain his breathe and evaluate the scene. When he glanced down to the clearing below, he finally got it. At first glance, it looked the same as before but once Iruka examined it closer, he noticed the thin coat of mud on the ground. A mud trap. Scarface was making him dodge so much in hopes that he would get careless and jump on the ground without realizing the danger. It also explained the relatively low-level jutsus he had been throwing at him. A technique like this must require a lot of chakra and concentration. But now that Iruka knew his ultimate goal, he could turn the tables on him.

He dodged further back into the forest to buy time and pulled out the scroll containing the seals he did not use often. Finding the one he wanted, he quickly applied them to the bottom of his sandals and hurried back towards the battle. The barrier around the carriage had luckily held during his momentary retreat and Iruka launched some more kunai with exploding tags on Scarface to prevent his opponent from attacking the carriage again.

They continued their cat-and-mouse game for a few more minutes until Iruka jumped down to the clearing below and become “stuck”. In reality, the seals he had applied to his sandals were a modified barrier seals that could rest right up against foreign chakra and prevent any from getting through. He had developed the seals for situations just like this one. Tradition barrier seals could keep chakra out, but they did not work well for protecting small spaces and would disturb the flow of chakra enough that the opponent would realize Iruka was not trapped. The modified seals released very little chakra so Iruka could fool his adversary most of the time. Fortunately for him, this was one of the times. His opponent dropped down about ten feet from him and prepared to launch a higher level jutsu, given the hand signs involved. 

Iruka had chosen his position so that Asuka’s carriage was off to the side and not directly behind him. When the missing nin launched his attack, an earth cannonball, Iruka simply leaped up to avoid it. So startled by the fact that Iruka could move, Scarface did not have a chance to react in the split-second before Iruka launched three kunai with exploding tags on them. One hit his shoulder, another his chest, and the last his head. He was probably dead before the explosions even went off but it never hurt to be careful. Iruka carefully sealed his body and made his way towards the carriage. As much as he wanted to go back and make sure Naomi and Shingo were alright, his priority was the client. He performed a simple earth jutsu to right the carriage again and took down the barrier, after double-checking that no one was nearby. He jumped onto the carriage and quickly created a new barrier. 

“Asuka, are you alright?” Iruka opened the door to check on their client. 

When he didn’t respond right away, Iruka feared the worst. He thought there was no way he could get hurt just by being in a carriage that was pushed over. There were pillows everywhere for goodness sake! He forgot how damn fragile nobles were. Luckily when he checked on Asuka, he didn’t appear hurt. He was unconscious but didn’t have any bruises or anything. “Did he hit his head?” Iruka wondered. Naomi might murder me if he wakes and can’t remember who he is or something. Before Iruka could freak out too badly, Asuka groaned and opened his eyes.

“Are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up?” Iruka fussed.

“Ah, three?” Well, his vision is alright at least.

“Do you feel any tenderness or pain in your head?” Iruka questioned.

“No, I’m okay. Why are you so worried about my head?” Asuka asked.

“Didn’t you hit it and that’s what knocked you unconscious?”

“No um.” Asuka looked embarrassed. “I promise my head’s fine. I didn’t hit it.”

Well, that was a relief. Then why-

“I fainted,” Asuka admitted. “I am not injured. I just got really freaked out when the carriage tipped and passed out.”

Iruka tried his best not to let his irritation show on his face. It wasn’t Asuka’s fault he wasn’t used to fights. Iruka was just too used to being around people who had been fighting for their lives since they were children. He cannot yell at his client for worrying him. Naomi would definitely kill him for that. “I am glad you are alright. I have strengthened the barriers around the carriage and we should be safe for now. We will wait a little longer to see if the rest of our party catches up and then we will continue towards your home.” Iruka exited the carriage but stayed inside the barrier. It was a bit of a risk to wait but Iruka felt like it was worth it. He had already taken care of two of the four attackers and Naomi and Shingo both seemed like skilled shinobi. If they had won, it was better for them to all travel together in case of further attacks. If they hadn’t survived, getting a bit of a head start would not do Iruka much good at this point. Asuka was slow and so would need to use one of the horses to keep up if they were pursued and had to abandon the slow-moving carriage. It would be very difficult to move without leaving a trail. Iruka would wait for a little bit. This also gave him the time to make a few more barrier seals. If they were attacked again he would need them.

Just as he was finishing up the fourth seal, he heard movement from the woods. Someone was approaching quickly. Iruka straightened up and pulled out more kunai. 

Naomi burst through the tree-line. She had a cut on her left shoulder and an impressive assortment of bruises but looked otherwise okay. But Iruka couldn’t let his guard down yet.

Before she could speak Iruka asked, “Who was the last to arrive to head out for our mission?”

Naomi, or maybe the enemy nin who had taken her form, skidded to a halt in front of his barrier. She smiled, “You were, Iruka. We exited out of the east gate and you took the second watch while we were traveling to the capital.”

Iruka let out a sigh of relief. Looked like it really was her. 

“Asuka is safe and un-injured. I disposed of the earth-style fighter.” Iruka reported.

“Good. The other two are dead as well. Shingo is gathering their bodies and will catch up. Oh, and Iruka?” Iruka looked up while Naomi shot him an unimpressed look. “Find a better question for checking for identity. An enemy would have a one-third chance of getting it right and I don’t like those odds.”

Iruka shrugged, “True. But would they have caught on when I mentioned us leaving out the south gate?”

Naomi laughed. “You are one crafty bastard. Alright, have it your way. I guess you know what you are doing.”

Iruka graciously accepted the compliment. They continued on, with Shingo catching up a little later.

The rest of the journey was fairly calm. They did run into a group of bandits, but they were easily taken care of. Iruka doubted they were targeting their client specifically since they were not prepared to deal with three shinobi. Just a manifestation of the regular bad luck escort missions brought. 

When they delivered Asuka to his home, it was the sixteenth day since leaving Sand. They happily turned over protection duties to the guards Asuka’s family had hired for the estate and left almost immediately. 

Iruka was elated as they began the return journey. ‘Gaara, stay safe for a little while longer and I’ll be back soon.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fight scenes took me forever to write since they are so different from what I usually do. I tried to write it without giving Scarface that nickname but it was so awkward I cracked. Is it the most uncreative nickname ever? Yes. It is something I could see the Sand siblings, none of whom have a whole lot of tact, coming up with? Also yes.
> 
> Anyway, Iruka gets back to Sand in the next chapter. You'll hear about what the kids have been up to in his absence.


	14. Chapter 14

“So how is looking after that demon going?” It was the second day of their three-day return journey. So far everything was going well. Iruka had relaxed slightly, although still kept himself battle-ready. However, he instantly tensed up following Shingo’s question. Although a large part of him wanted to shout that Gaara was not a demon but a sweet and lonely child, he knew he could not. Defending Gaara too strongly could be seen as treason since the Kazekage had made his opinion of Gaara quite clear. Iruka didn’t trust that man not to use any excuse to get rid of him or at least separate him from Gaara.

But at the same time, he needed to change shinobi’s attitudes towards Gaara. He couldn’t do it himself because most people did not fully trust him so they would not change their minds based on his opinion. But if he convinced Shingo and Naomi to think of Gaara as an asset, not a liability, their opinions would carry more weight. While he did not know much about either of them, the fact that they were the shinobi the Kazekage trusted on a mission with Iruka, who he definitely did not trust, showed that he had a high opinion of both of them. If he could sway them, that could go a long way in influencing public opinion. Of course, he had to be careful not to let them catch on that this was his goal. He had to focus on Gaara’s future usefulness to the village, as much as he hated to do so. They would not be swayed by an outpouring of emotions.

“I won’t say it’s without its difficulties. He almost killed me during the first week. However, Gaara’s control had gotten better over the time I have stayed with him. He hasn’t let the Onetails overpower him in over a month. I have taught him some basic shinobi skills and he has picked them up rather quickly. I think that having something to focus on and learn has helped him develop more stability.” Iruka paused not sure if he should continue or not. He needed to sound like a detached evaluator, not a proud parent and he didn’t know where to draw the line.

“Huh, I had noticed that the village seemed less on edge than usual,” Shingo commented. “I had thought it impossible for anyone to control the Onetails.”

“Gaara still has a long way to go but if he keeps strengthening his power over the Onetails, he could be an important asset. His sand shield creates impressive protection from long and short-range attacks,” Iruka explained.

“I remember that sand,” Naomi finally spoke. “It’s pretty useful for attacking too.”

Iruka nodded. There was a reason he took Gaara out into the desert to practice with the sand and didn’t allow him to use it in his spars against his siblings yet. It was very powerful and neither Temari or Kankuro would be able to adequately defend themselves if it got out of control. Iruka could barely stand against it.

“So are you going back to watching the kid after this mission is over?” Shingo questioned.

“Yes, the Kazekage told me that was the plan before we left. It is still my long-term mission although I am uncertain of whether I will take more short side missions in the near future,” Iruka replied honestly. He didn’t need to mention the Kazekage’s vague threats. 

“Better you than me. I think I’d go crazy if I had to spend all day secluded from the village with some brat with a demon inside him,” Shingo stated. “Don’t you miss talking to people over the age of ten?”

Iruka shrugged. It wasn’t like he had an active social life before becoming Gaara’s caretaker. When not on missions, he could spend days without ever having a conversation beyond what was necessary to buy groceries or file paperwork. Honestly, he probably talks more when he is with Gaara then he ever did before. Plus he has Scorpion for when he needs a serious conversation. “It’s not so bad. I’m not completely isolated. Temari and Kankuro visit sometimes and their caretaker tags along.” Not that Iruka had ever talked to the man.

Not much more was said on the subject, but Iruka hoped he had at least planted a seed that would be passed on and grow. He had hope, since both Naomi and Shingo seemed like reasonable people who wanted what was best for their village. If he had successfully convinced them that Gaara could help the village in the future, that was all he could do right now. The rest was out of his hands.

Their luck held for the rest of their journey home. By mid-afternoon of the third day after delivering Asuka to his home, they could see the walls of the village. Iruka had seen this sight many times while returning from missions but never before had they ever filled him with such relief and happiness. Having someone in the village to come back to made a huge difference. He couldn’t wait to see Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro and hear about all the mischief they had gotten into in his absence. He hoped Scorpion had gotten at least some sleep these last few weeks. They had probably run him ragged trying to keep up with them. Honestly, if the house was still standing and none of his kids had been summoned to the Kazekage’s office while he was gone, he would count that as a win.

As they entered the gate, Naomi turned to look at Shingo and Iruka. “Good job both of you. It was an honor to work with both of you and hopefully we can work together again in the future. I’ll file the mission report. You two get some rest.” After waving off their thanks, she sent off towards the mission desk. Iruka smiled. That was the best feedback he had ever gotten from a mission leader.

Shingo turned to go before turning back and saying, “I enjoyed working with you. Those seals were pretty awesome. I had no idea they were that versatile.” Iruka beamed, feeling proud that someone saw seals as useful. He was so caught up in that feeling that he almost missed what Shingo said next, “By the way, the next time those kids and you pull a prank, tell them to use blue paint. It brings out my eyes better.” He strode off before Iruka could think of a response. 

Iruka chuckled. It seemed like Shingo had taken what he said yesterday under consideration. He doubted Shingo would have said that if he still thought of Gaara as nothing but a threat. Iruka felt hopeful for about two seconds before he saw Mari. She was smirking broadly and making a beeline for him. Nothing good could come of this, he was sure of it.

“So, Iruka, did you have a good trip? Any injuries you need me to look over? Anything exciting to share?” Iruka shook his head. The mission was fairly routine. The bumps and bruises he had gathered did not need help healing. He might tell her about how he used his seals to win the fight against Scarface later but right now he was more focused on finding out what had happened while he was gone. For Mari to wait for him, it must be something big. They weren’t close so she wouldn’t have bothered coming unless she wanted to talk to him before he could talk to anyone else. Iruka wracked his brain trying to think of what the kids could have done to inspire this response. Unless one of them had been seriously injured, he didn’t understand why Mari would be involved. He had told Gaara to go to her if something went wrong, but if that was the case, wouldn’t she be with the kids instead of waiting for him?

Seeming to sense that Iruka was spiraling in his attempt to figure out what was going on, Mari took pity on him. “What exactly did you say to Gaara before leaving?”

Iruka was rather confused about where this was going. “I told him to stay safe, to keep practicing with his siblings, to try and not hurt anyone while I was gone, and to go to you or Scorpion if he had any problems.” He didn’t think he had said anything that weird.

“While I am delighted I was one of the people you trusted to watch out for your kids, we have other things to focus on right now. But don’t worry, I’ll tease you about that later.” Iruka groaned, knowing Mari would keep her word. "Did Gaara ask you anything that night?” She asked.

Iruka thought back. “No- oh wait. He did ask me how people gained power in the village. Why? What happened? How is that relevant? It seemed like a fairly innocent question.” Iruka protested. How much chaos could Gaara cause just based on that answer?

Mari shook her head. “Well, it has been an interesting few weeks. Don’t worry, they haven’t done anything that will get you or them in trouble with the Kazekage. Yet.” Iruka was not very comforted by this considering the ominous-sounding yet. 

“This will be easier and safer to explain once we are back at your house. You can throw up on of those secret silencing barriers.” Iruka sputtered. How did she know about those? “Scorpion is a highly trained anbu. Do you really think he doesn’t notice that every so often he can’t hear what was going on inside? Particularly since it’s always when you look to be having a serious discussion with one of the gremlins?” 

“I thought I was being subtle about it,” Iruka pouted. “How long has he known?”

“Since the second time you put on up. Don’t worry, he’s never going to call you on it. He likes having plausible deniability. Just don’t use them very much when another anbu is watching over you. They probably won’t be as amused.”

Iruka nodded. That wouldn’t be too difficult considering Scorpion was usually watching them from sunup to sundown. He'd just limit important and slightly treasonous conversations to those hours.

“Anyway before we reach your house, tell me what do you know about Pakura?”

Once again Iruka was thrown for a loop. “She’s a strong jonin. She has a bloodline technique called Scorch Release that honestly terrifies me. Didn’t she recently take on a student?” That was honestly it. They had never been on a mission together and they certainly didn’t run in the same social circles. Iruka admired her for her bravery and fighting prowess but beyond that never gave her much thought.

“You’ll like her. Your kids certainly do.” Mari walked on ahead, leaving a very confused Iruka in her wake. Why were his kids bothering Pakura? She was one of the strongest jonin of his generation but seemed rather unapproachable. None of the kids had mentioned her in the past, either. What exactly did they get up to while he was gone that involved a super-strong jonin and had Mari taking time out of her busy day to wait to escort him home?

Mari threw up the door. Apparently she would be no help in teaching the kids subtlety. “We’re back.”

Iruka couldn’t even get through the doorway before three blurs hit him at full force. He could barely stay on his feet while hugging the three kids that had attached themselves to him. He had been forced to drop his pack and catch Gaara who had launched himself at him. Temari threw her arms around his waist and he was trying to prevent Gaara’s legs from hitting her on the head. Kankuro was holding onto his left leg. All three of them were trying to tell Iruka something, but Iruka couldn’t understand a word any of them said. Part of it was just the fact that all three of them were talking over each other, part of it was that he was just so glad to see them again that he couldn’t really focus on anything else.

After a few minutes of this, Mari stepped in. “Alright, that’s enough. Kids, let him get inside and put his stuff away. Go set the table or something.” None of them seemed too pleased about this, but after a few reassurances that he wouldn’t disappear while they were in the next room, Temari and Kankuro begrudgingly took their leave. 

Gaara stayed behind for a minute longer. “Can I try something?” Iruka nodded. Gaara frowned in concentration and pulled out a little of his sand. He slowly formed it into a bracelet around Iruka’s wrist. “Too tight?” He asked. 

Iruka flexed his arm and rotated his wrist. “No, it’s perfect.” 

Gaara’s face lit up. “I’ve been working on it while you were away. Now I can know where you are and you can tell me if something is wrong by cutting the sand. Temari and Kankuro let me try it on them and I could find them anywhere within the village.” He hurried after his siblings, secure in the knowledge that Iruka couldn’t leave without him knowing. 

Iruka was so glad Gaara was learning to use his sand as something to protect others instead of just hurting others and protecting himself. 

“I’m pretty sure he developed that solely so he would know you were safe when he couldn’t see you.” Iruka whipped his head to look at the woman who had spoken. She must be Pakura. They had never met, but he had seen her from a distance a few times and she had a rather distinctive style. “They really care about you,” she continued. Iruka wasn’t sure how to respond. “Just a question- did you put them up to planning a coup or was that all them?”

"They’re doing WHAT?” Iruka yelled.

“Well that answers that question,” Pakura responded while Mari cackled in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iruka wants to shout from the rooftops how much he loves his kids but that's not a wise tactical decision.
> 
> So we're finally back in Sand!!! Sorry we didn't get to see how of the kids this chapter, we'll hear more about what they were doing and see them more next time. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed and happy new year!


	15. Chapter 15

As much as Iruka wanted that comment explained immediately, he agreed to wait until after dinner to get the full story. He was starving and the kids finished setting the table soon after he yelled, wanting to eat and he couldn’t say no to them. While they ate, they filled him in on what they had been doing the past few weeks. Apparently they spent the first week working on Gaara’s sand bracelet technique. Temari and Kankuro’s caregiver had nearly had a heart attack when both of his charges returned with the same sand that their brother had previously used to kill people wrapped around their wrists. They were evasive about what they had worked on next until Iruka figured it out and flat out asked them what prank they had pulled.

Apparently it was something similar to their first one. However, instead of releasing the paint on people, when the trap was tripped it bathed the outside of the main administrative building with bright green paint. Iruka imagined that neither the Kazekage nor the mission desk staff were too happy about that. When he tried to lecture them about ignoring his instructions not to release paint inside buildings, they protested, saying the paint had only gotten on the outside, which was fair game according to him. When he pointed out that some of the paint must have gotten inside through the windows, Temari unleashed the smuggest expression he had ever seen in his life. She slammed some pieces of paper down onto the table. Iruka looked them over, noticing that they were barrier seals. She explained that she and Kankuro had placed some around every window and doorway in the early morning before the prank, with Gaara keeping watch and signaling to them through the sand bracelets if anyone was coming. Iruka was impressed. Yes, he had shown them these seals but to be able to apply them so quickly and to so many different openings required some skill and a lot of willpower. He was even more proud (although he would never tell them this due to the chaos that would surely follow) that they had found a way to stick to the letter of his directions while still kind of disobeying them. Iruka had annoyed several higher ranking shinobi commanders with that exact skill. 

While the kids obviously wanted to stay up all night and regale Iruka with stories of what they had done while he was away before too long Temari and Kankuro were both fighting off yawns. Mari offered to walk them home. After a round of hugs and some complaining, the three of them set off. Iruka took Gaara to their shared room to check on his seal. Gaara assured him that nothing had gone wrong in his absence. Iruka removed the stabilizing seal. He decided not to make an adjustment that night, just in case. He knew he was being overly cautious but he did not want to hurt Gaara. The boy snuggled into the blankets and drifted, as he usually would during the night. As much as Iruka wanted to cuddle with him, he needed answers. Pulling a prank and maybe pissing off Temari and Kankuro’s watcher was the level of chaos he expected from them. Maybe planning a coup was something not even he could have imagined they would do. “Well, they keep my life interesting,” Iruka muttered to himself as he made his way to the kitchen to meet with Pakura. He was honestly still a little terrified of her but since she was the only one who could give him answers right now, he would power through. He had a feeling Mari would just laugh at him if he hid from Pakura and asked her later. 

When he re-entered the kitchen, Pakura was seated at the table with a cup of tea between her hands. “I made some for you,” she said, gesturing to the cup opposite her. Iruka considered the cup for a moment. One of the first things shinobi learned was not to accept food or drink from someone whose motivations you were not sure of, particularly if it had been prepared out of your sight. However, Iruka really needed to move this conversation along to get answers and did not want to waste time playing these games.

He sat down and resolutely took a large gulp of tea. He regretted that decision instantly because the tea was still very hot, but he tried not to let that show on his face. Pakura raised her eyebrow at him, asking the obvious question.

Iruka sighed. “Yes, I know you could have tampered with it in any number of ways. But honestly, if you wanted to kill me, it would probably take you maybe three minutes if we fought, and you strike me as someone who would rather fight their targets rather than poison them. Now that that’s out of the way, can you please tell me what my kids have done while I was gone?”

Pakura seemed to relax after Iruka’s explanation. “You are refreshingly blunt. And you’re right, by the way, When I kill someone, I prefer to scorch them in a fight. More satisfying that way. Cleaner too.” Iruka figured that was either a poorly veiled threat or this was how powerful jonin thought human interactions were supposed to work. If the latter was the case, he spared a moment of sympathy for the psych department. “The second part is a little bit harder to address,” Pakura continued. “I don’t know everything they have done and am not positive about their end goal. It seems obvious, but they are more manipulative and conniving than I originally gave them credit for, so I might be wrong. I’ll tell you how I came into contact with them and what I know and let you form your own conclusions.”

Without further delay, Pakura launched into her story. “I meant your original charge first. It was about three in the morning. I had just gotten back from a combat-heavy mission and went to crash into my own bed for the first time in weeks. I was almost asleep when I heard a hiss that was vaguely familiar. I immediately roll out of bed and throw some shruinken toward the noise. They were stopped by a wall of sand. Before I could launch another attack, the junchuriki of the Onetails poked his head out from behind the wall. I assumed that this was one of his murderous episodes at first but then I noticed something strange. He was not radiated any hostile intent. I had been present when he had killed people in the past, and I remember the feeling of his murderous intent. If I hadn’t known this kid was a junchuriki before then, I would have as soon as felt it. It was not something a mere human, let alone a child, could produce. It radiated hostility to all humans discriminatorily and its strength had made me step back before collecting myself. All of that was absent from the boy in my room.”

“As soon as he saw me, he instantly said, “Oh good. You’re finally back. Waiting was annoying.” Iruka facepalmed internally. That was exactly like Gaara to break into someone’s house and then get upset they kept him waiting. 

“I considered flaring my chakra to get the attention of whatever anbus were on duty, but given his lack of hostile intent, I decided to listen to him first. What followed was one of the oddest conversations I’ve had in my life and considering the mission I’ve been on that’s saying something. He asked me if I was Pakura. When I responded that I was, he paused and started doing hand signs. I almost attacked again before realizing that he was just putting up a silencing barrier. I’m guessing you taught him that?” Iruka nodded. He had taught all the kids within the first month of knowing them, just in case.

“It was a good thing he put it up because the direction of the conversation took a sharp turn towards treason. He asked about my feelings towards the Kazekage, how strong I was, and what my hopes for the future of Sand were. I hope he does not have his heart set on being an undercover shinobi since I’m pretty sure all the questions were scripted and he did not know how to follow-up.” Iruka couldn’t say he was surprised. He guessed all three of them had decided what topics they wanted to know about, then Kankuro and Temari drafted the questions since they had more experience interacting with others. Given that Gaara didn’t just come out and say “How willing are you to overthrow the Kazekage?” Iruka guessed Temari had had the final say on the phrasing. She didn’t possess a whole lot of tact but was better than the other two (although that was an incredibly low bar). 

“I responded to his questions, but obviously did not answer them fully. Once he reached the end, he thanked me for my time, apologized for disrupting my night, and said he would consult with the others and get back to me. Get back to me about what I wasn’t quite sure. But before he could go, I asked if I could pose a question to him. He said that seemed fair since he had asked me a whole bunch of questions. I asked him, " Why the sudden interest in me and the position of the Kazekage?" All of the information I had previously heard about the kid said he was an unstable mess who couldn’t control the Onetails and killed whoever was close to him. What I was seeing directly contradicted these reports. He obviously had a purpose in coming to me and talked about working with others as if it was normal for him. He went quiet for a moment then looked me dead in the eye and said, “He threatened to take Iruka away from me and hurt him. I won’t let that happen.” And with that, he disappeared in a shower of dust.

“Of course, that did not answer any of my questions since, no offense, I had no idea who you were. But it piqued my curiosity. So I started making subtle inquiries, and since I assume you know how big of gossips shinobi are, I quickly found out that you were his current caretaker and the only one who had lasted longer than a month since Yashamaru. When I learned you were out of the village for the first time since becoming his caretaker, I decided to keep an eye on Gaara, just in case. Two days after Gaara had appeared in my room, I was about to head over to your house to do some observing when the intended object of my observation knocked on my door. This time he had both his siblings with him. They very politely asked if they could come in and I agreed. Temari asked me something about a famous mission of mine, probably in an attempt to divert my attention from Kankuro who was wandering around my living room laying down seals and then putting up a silencing barrier. They really need to work on being sneaky.” Pakura looked way too amused when she said that. She had clearly never tried to teach children the finer points of subtlety. Iruka could vouch that it was not an easy task. “But once the barrier was up, they dropped their act and immediately started interrogating me about my views of the village, the Kazekage, and a brief side-trip into what color paint I thought would be the best for dumping on buildings. I learned later that day that those three don’t ask questions that they don’t have a reason for when I saw the mission desk headquarters covered with green paint.” Iruka nodded, they really did not ask innocent questions. Maybe this time he would remember that and be more cautious when one of them comes to him with a seemingly innocuous query.

“At the end of that visit, they had a conference in the corner, protected by yet another silencing barrier. Side question, how many seals did you leave with these kids?” Iruka refused to answer that since even he would admit he had worried way too much and left enough silencing and protection seals to the last the entire village at least a month. “When they came back, Gaara graciously informed me that I could be in on their plans. I believe his exact words were ‘You’ll do for now’. Of course, they then threatened me about what would happen if I told anyone. Temari was the one delivering the threats, Gaara was making a spear out of sand, and Kankuro was smiling cutely. All and all, it created a rather confusing atmosphere. Tell them that next time they are threatening someone, they all need to agree on their approach.”

“Talking to Scorpion and Mari was apparently acceptable. I asked if they were co-conspirators and they said not yet, but they will be. Having met Mari previously and knowing her connection to Karura, I believed them about her but I am still confused about how they got Scorpion in on this. He always struck me as somewhat of a rule follower.” Iruka nodded along, making mental notes of areas to teach the kids. Since he obviously couldn’t stop them from doing dangerous and ill-advised things, he could at least teach them how to do those things well.

“Wait,” he suddenly blurted out, “what connection to Karura?”

Pakura gave him a very unimpressed look. “Why don’t know? They were on the same genin team and remained fast friends until Karura’s death. I figured you don’t keep up with village gossip, but didn’t you at least research Mari after she showed interest in you and the kids?”

“Okay, that might have been a wise move,” Iruka admitted. “But it’s not like I had the opportunity. I couldn’t exactly leave Gaara alone to hang around on street corners trying to hear something about Mari and I have no one who I can ask for that kind of information. Scorpion and I can only have short conversations and he starts all of them, so I never got the chance to ask him and he’s the only adult I talk to on a regular basis.” After his passionate defense of his lax information gathering skills, Iruka returned to the information in question. “So Mari was friends with Karura. She is more accepting of Gaara than most of the village.”

Pakura nodded. “She argued with the Kazekage years ago, saying that his treatment of Gaara, and Kankuro and Temari, were not what Karura wanted for her children. That got her banished from the Kazekage’s group of advisers and she’s been trying to find a way to care for Karura’s children ever since. She’s really grateful for you, you know? Her hands are somewhat tied because she is from one of the larger clans in the village and can’t publicly disagree with the Kazekage without backlash from her family, which could put in a position where she could not help the kids at all. But you can do what she never could.”

Iruka smiled. He was glad to learn that he was helping her in some way to make up for everything she had done for him. 

“Since then, not a day goes by when they don’t come over if I am in the village. They have bugged me into teaching them a few more complicated techniques and I’m thinking of introducing them to my student, Maki. She is very curious about who I have been spending my time with. Besides, some more socialization might help and Maki is a good sort. She’ll treat Gaara fairly. But I wanted to check with you before I did that. You obviously know these kids best and I don’t want to push too fast.”

Iruka thought the matter over. It would be good to introduce the siblings to others their age. He was worried that they were developing a negative mentality towards most everyone in the village beside Iruka and their siblings. But not just yet. “I think it is a good idea but not yet. Give me two weeks. There is something I need to take care of.” Iruka had plans to change Gaara’s seal by the end of the week. Then he would need the next week to make sure Gaara did not react negatively. He would need to keep everyone away for the first few days.

Pakura studied him, “If you told me what you were planning, would I feel compelled to tell the Kazekage because you are going against his direct orders?”

Iruka raised an eyebrow, “Do you really want me to answer that?”

Pakura laughed. “Nah, I’m good. Just be careful.”

“Anyway, back to the coup,” Iruka redirected the conversation. He needed to know exactly how far the kids had gotten in their apparent plan.

“Oh, yeah. I promise they haven’t put anything in motion or try to threaten the Kazekage. It’s just that over the past few weeks, they’ve been pumping Mari and me, and sometimes even Scorpion, for information. With me, they’ve mainly been asking about my standing in the village and capabilities. They’ve asked Mari about village politics since she knows more gossip and is more forthright than I am. I overhead Kankuro trying to convince Scorpion to tell him more about the anbu guards and their schedule.” Iruka rested his head in his hands. Pakura laughed at him. “As I said, it looks like they are trying to depose their father. So either they are very bad at it or they have some grand plan that incorporates their unsubtle maneuvers. With them, I’m honestly not sure which one it is. All of them do have a tendency to ceaselessly apply brute force to problems instead of thinking them through. Anyway, good luck figuring out that mess.” Iruka glared at her, which just seemed to amuse her more.

As she made to leave, Pakura paused in the doorway, seeming to struggle with whether to say something before finally blurting out, “Look, I’m not going to lie. I’m not going to promise that I can protect you or the kids from everything. Before he appeared in my room, I never really thought about Gaara unless he was having one of his episodes and trying to kill everyone around him.” Iruka couldn’t really fault her for that since that was the attitude most shinobi in the village seemed to take. “I’m not you. I have some fondness for the kids but I’m not going to make them my top priority. I can’t. My main priority is, as it had always been, the protection of the village. And honestly, the threat from Mist is more of a danger to us than Gaara. I have to focus my attention on that. I can’t get pulled too far into whatever treasonous activities the kids are planning. I need to be able to fight for this village and for that I need to have the Kazekage’s trust. If push comes to shove, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to step in. So just please take care of them? They’re good kids and it’s obvious you mean the world to them and vice versa. I firmly believe you can get through whatever the Kazekage throws at you. I know you don’t like him but he won’t intentionally do something that would hurt the village. And it’s pretty obvious to those of us who had to do damage control when Gaara lost control that taking you away from him would be a danger to the village. Don’t let him tell you otherwise. He needs you. He knows that but doesn’t want to admit it. Just keep doing what you are doing and don’t let the kids challenge him too publicly, and you’ll be fine. I’m rooting for you.”

Iruka stared at her, trying to process everything she said. “Anyway, I’ve probably said too much. I’ll take my leave now. I have a mission tomorrow and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I’ll check in with you once I get back. Stay safe.” She body flickered away.

Iruka decided at that moment that he needed to talk to Gaara before deciding how he felt about Pakura’s little speech. He had never known Gaara to lie, and he certainly wouldn’t lie to Iruka, so he decided to just flat out ask him what they were planning. After he had that information, he could decide on his next course of action and figure out if what Pakura said about the Kazekage was true. With his mind made up, he headed upstairs to get some rest before finally talking with Gaara tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How many times can I reference the concept of plausible deniability in one chapter? A lot. 
> 
> Sorry for the lack of Sand siblings in this chapter. I needed to set the stage and Pakura was the best person to do that. I love her so much. But the next chapter will revolve around Gaara.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	16. Chapter 16

When Iruka reached their bedroom, he was unsurprised to see Gaara sitting on the bed, waiting for him. Nor was he surprised when Gaara instantly lit up upon seeing him and launched himself into Iruka’s arms. If Iruka held on longer than necessary and felt a few tears trail down his cheeks, well Gaara wasn’t complaining. Eventually, Iruka made his way to the bed and sat down with Gaara curled up next to him.

“In the morning we are having a long talk about what exactly you got up to while I was gone,” Iruka said, trying to sound stern. Considering he had not stopped running his hand through Gaara’s hair since they sat down, Gaara did not take him very seriously. “But for now, we are going to bed. Sound good to you?” Iruka noticed how much easier it was to fall asleep when he could feel Gaara’s warmth next to him and know he is safe. Iruka understood why Gaara had worked so hard on those sand bracelets. It was the closest he could get to this feeling when Iruka was not at his side. He wondered if Gaara could make something that would tell Iruka that he was safe when Iruka wasn’t present. But that, like everything else, could wait. For now, Iruka just enjoyed the feeling.

The next morning Gaara was more excited for breakfast then Iruka remembered. When he commented on it, Gaara pouted and told him that he had not had good food since Iruka left. The pre-packaged meals and Mari’s cooking did not compare. 

Once they had finished breakfast, they decided to take their usual walk in the desert. Falling back into their routine felt nice and it would take them away from curious ears. Once they could no longer see the village, Iruka asked, “So what’s this I hear about you three planning a coup? That is definitely not what I meant when I asked you to stay out of trouble while I was gone.”

Gaara did not appear properly repentant. “You haven’t had to deal with ant troublesome people since you got back, have you?” Iruka had to admit he had not. “So I kept my promise. And It’s not like you like Father anyway.”

This kid really took after Iruka a little too much and it wasn’t good for his health. He suddenly understood why his jonin instructor constantly looked like he was fighting a headache when dealing with Iruka. “Thank you for keeping your promise, Gaara. I’m proud that you were able to keep the Onetails under control while I was gone. But if the Kazekage caught wind of you planning a coup, it would have severe consequences. Even more severe than what would happen if the Onetails went out of control again. So you understand why I am concerned?”

“But he already knows,” Gaara protested. “And that’s all part of the plan.”

“What?” Iruka shrieked, already mentally planning his funeral. If the Kazekage knew, he had very little time to act. He was probably dead no matter what, but he could hopefully still save Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara by taking all the blame.

“He’s known since the first time I talked to Pakura. The anbu that night wasn’t Scorpion and the silencing barrier was rather obvious. Plus, there are not many reasons I would go talk to Pakura. We know Temari and Kankuro’s caretaker reports everything we say to the Kazekage so we let him overhear just enough so he would think we were badly planning a coup. Mari is already not trusted by the Kazekage but he cannot remove her from her post at the hospital because she is the best healer we have. So making it appear that she was in on the plan would not hurt her. Pakura is the best fighter in the village and we need her for the war against Mist. Father had to know that Scorpion hasn’t been telling him everything, but he hasn’t removed him from his position so he is probably safe as well. We were very careful to make everyone think we were trying to remove Father from power and replace him with Pakura, but seem incompetent enough that Father would not think we are really a threat and be subtle enough with Mari, Pakura, and Scorpion that they had plausible deniability so no one would get hurt.” Gaara seemed quite pleased with how well they had thought everything out. 

Iruka had to admit it was a rather well-made plan if a little naive. If the Kazekage thought someone was a threat to him, he would probably dispose of them, regardless of their importance to the village. But there was still something he didn’t understand. “It was well done, Gaara. But more importantly, why would you do all this? I know you would not do this just to annoy the Kazekage since you know how dangerous he can be. What are you trying to accomplish with this? I have worked so hard to protect you from his schemes and if he wants to punish someone, I will take the blame. But you can’t keep doing this or you’ll be hurt.”

Gaara looked slightly irritated, “Don’t you understand? I’m not worried about you protecting me. This was all to protect you. You’ve given so much of yourself to defend me ever since we met. You constantly tell me that you don’t have to power to protect me, but I think you have more power than you give yourself credit for. Temari, Kankuro, and I are the Kazekage’s children. I am the junchuriki of the Onetails and you are helping me control it. Mari and Scorpion both have some influence in the village and they both trust you. Pakura is already starting to, as well. But you’re so afraid of the Kazekage hurting me and you not being able to stop him that you don’t see how important you are. So we decided that we would come up with a plan that would remove the power the Kazekage had over us, so you could stop worrying.”

“It was harder than we expected,” Gaara admitted, pouting slightly. “He has a lot of power and influence in the village.” Iruka bit back the retort of, of course, he does. He’s the damn Kazekage and any adult would never dream that they could escape his power. “We also knew that we needed a diversion. You said he would be watching us, and especially me, closely while you were gone and you were right. We noticed quickly that Scorpion was no longer the main anbu near us and there were sometimes multiple anbus on the roof. It was Kankuro’s idea to make the diversion part of the main plan. We realized that just being on our best behavior would not get us anywhere. I haven’t attacked anyone in months and Father still threatened to take you away. So we need to do something that would show him that he couldn’t separate us without consequences. It took us about a week, brainstorming in between working on the sand bracelets and plotting our prank. Temari was reading a history book about the founding of the shinobi villages when she suddenly screamed that she had it. We had created a silencing barrier earlier and forgotten to take it down, so luckily no one heard her. But she explained how one of the clans that the first Kazekage was trying to get to join the village had threatened war if certain demands were not met and even though he knew that the village could withstand the attacks, the demands were not hard to meet so he figured it was better for the village to give in. Kankuro was so ready to convince our clan to do this before realizing Father is the head of our clan so that won’t work. Temari threw her book at him and called him an idiot before explaining that we don’t need to threaten war, just something bad enough that would divide the village, even if everyone knew it would fail from the beginning.”

“It was my idea to pretend to plan a coup,” Gaara looked very proud for essentially threatening to kill his father, Iruka noted. He might need to back off bad-mouthing the Kazekage in the kids’ presence. “Even though Father would know we wouldn’t succeed, he would want to stop us from even trying because it wouldn’t look good for him if his own children wanted to get rid of him. And he can’t afford to look weak or not in control of the village right now because of the conflict with Mist. So we figured that if we pretended to rather obviously plan a coup while you were away and then stopped once you got back, Father would think that you are necessary to keep us in check and would probably acquiesce to our demand that you remain my caretaker, and maybe even allow Temari and Kankuro to come live with us, if we promised to stop plotting against him. Once he no longer has that threat over you, you will be happier and safer. And so will we because you are with us. And the village will be better off because you help me control the Onetails. Everybody wins. Except maybe Father, but I don’t care about him.”

Gaara finished what he seemed to feel was his perfectly reasonable explanation and stared up at Iruka for his response. Unfortunately for both of them, Iruka was too busy having a crisis to formulate a response. The worst part, he thought hysterically, is that their plan actually makes a certain amount of sense. Still very naive, but not poorly thought out. He was still caught up on the idea that the three of them thought planning a fake coup was a proportional response for the Kazekage making vague threats to take Iruka away. 

“That is a very complex plan, Gaara. While I would prefer that you come to me before unleashing any similar ideas in the future, I’m proud of how you all thought through everything.” Iruka complimented Gaara, wanting him to understand that he was impressed before moving on to the harder topic. “But, Gaara, you understand this could still have dangerous consequences? The Kazekage might realize what you are doing and he won’t like that you tried to manipulate him. Then he would separate us for good.” And probably kill me, Iruka mentally added. “And he might forbid Temari and Kankuro from visiting you. Although Mari, Pakura, and Scorpion are integral to the village, he could go after them in other ways or just wait until the war is over to punish them.”

Gaara listened to Iruka’s concerns for a moment, looking rather confused. Suddenly, his expression cleared up. “Oh, right. I forget to tell you. While we weren’t very subtle, we still made a lot of progress on planning the coup. If Father tries to hurt or remove anyone involved, we’ll just put the coup into action.”

“I thought you said you weren’t actually planning a coup,” Iruka protested.

“No, I just said it wasn’t part of the main plan. But you always tell us to have multiple backup ones. The coup is just the least extreme one.” Gaara argued.

“How is a coup the least extreme option?” Iruka screamed. None of his plans every grew big enough that they could affect the whole village. These kids certainly thought on a grander scale than he did.

“Well, it seemed like the one that would be the easiest to pull off.” Before Iruka’s mental break-down could reach new heights, Gaara continued, “The others involve many outside factors and so would be harder to implement. But we could probably pull them off, if necessary.”

“And what do these other plans involve?” Iruka asked, his voice muffled since he had buried his face in his hands.

“I’m not quite sure I should tell you. You look stressed out enough as is and telling you will definitely stress you out more.” Gaara replied, quite honestly. “But you shouldn’t worry so much. We don’t think we’ll have to use them.” While Iruka tried to argue that not knowing was stressing him out more, Gaara stood firm and eventually Iruka gave up. He did have enough on his plate without adding whatever insane backup plans they kids had concocted, anyway. 

“So let me get this straight. Your plan was to pretend to plan a coup, while actually planning a coup as plan b and then using somehow more extreme measures if they became necessary?” Iruka had transcended stress to just settle in a numb state.

“Yes,” Gaara said proudly. “We figured no one would suspect that.”

Iruka had to admit they were right, if only because no one with any sense would ever come up with a plan like this.

Sensing his upcoming objections, Gaara spoke before Iruka could, “We know it’s not a perfect plan but we figured that Father would want to avoid taking obvious actions against us, if it could be helped, for the sake of village morale. Most people still think I’m a monster, but the puppeteers like Kankuro and Temari is scarily good at making people like her. She says she got all the charm in the family. We knew the risks going in and if anything happened, we decided we would be the ones to bear the consequences.”

As much as Iruka wanted to protest Gaara’s assessment of the village’s opinion of him, it was not an incorrect statement. Hopefully, his talk with Naomi and Shingo would bear fruit eventually, but for right now, the village feared and hated Gaara. He had noticed Kankuro was a favorite of older puppeteers, probably because he would sit for hours listening to their stories. Temari seemed to have decided both her brothers were hopeless with people and that she needed to be extra sociable to save them. It worked out pretty well most of the time. But more importantly, “Gaara, if anything goes wrong, I’ll take the fall for it. The Kazekage might not believe it, but as you said, he won’t want to publicly act against his children. I can protect you.”

This only made Gaara more upset. “No, I won’t allow it. You give so much of yourself for us when we never asked you to. I know you’re older and so you feel like you have to protect us, but we want to protect you just as much. Logically, we would face fewer consequences than you would, so why won't you let us take the blame? This is our plan.”

Iruka pulled Gaara closer to him and let him bury his face in Iruka’s shoulder. “I’ve never once regretted becoming your caretaker, you know that, right? You say I’m given you so much but you guys have given me just as much. I’ve never been happier than when I am with you.”

Gaara kept his head hidden for a few moments before peaking out, “I know. But you should still have the opportunity to do more things. Like meeting with Mari or Scorpion to talk, or teaching more people about how awesome seals are, or planning your own pranks. You’re so brave to be willing to stand up to Father for us but still so scared that you feel trapped in your own helplessness.” 

Iruka was taken aback but then really thought about what Gaara was saying. For so much of his life, he had felt like he had no control over what happened to him. He was the orphan of outsiders who never excelled at traditional fighting. He kept his head down, completed his missions as best he could, and never protested anyone’s poor treatment of him. He just accepted it as his lot in life. He never felt like he had anything to fight for until he met Gaara. He wanted so badly to protect him but still felt like he wasn’t powerful enough to do so. He became so concerned with avoiding confrontation with the Kazekage that he never even considered the idea that he might be able to outmaneuver him. Which was a pretty dumb move on Iruka’s part. He was used to coming into fights as the less powerful participant and had learned how to use this to his advantage over the years. Why should this be any different?

“You might have a point,” Iruka admitted reluctantly. “But couldn’t you have proved your point and got what you wanted from the Kazekage in a less extreme way?”

Gaara shrugged. “Probably. But Father deserves all the stress we give him and this was the most interesting way.”

“You really are committed to giving me a heart attack before I reach twenty, aren’t you?” Iruka asked, reaching over to ruffle Gaara’s hair.

“Of course not,” Gaara protested. “We want you around for as long as possible. We just knew that you would eventually come around to our way of thinking.” He did his best attempt at an innocent smile.

“Leave that face to Kankuro. On top of that, we really need to talk about your persuasion techniques with Pakura. Was that part of your grand master plan as well?” Iruka teased.

Gaara looked rather embarrassed. “Did she have to tell you about that? We had spent so much time creating our plan and deciding how to play that conversation that we forgot we needed to actually convince her to go along with our plan.” Iruka gave him an unimpressed and baffled look. “Well, we played out the conversation over and over again with the kitchen chair acting as Pakura. We got everything we wanted to say down but forgot that she would be harder to convince than a chair that can’t talk back. We didn’t know if we had succeeded, so in the end, everyone just went with the technique that they thought would work best. Next time, we’ll coordinate better.”

Iruka wished he could say he was surprised, but honestly, that sounded incredibly in character for his kids. “Alright, just promise me next time you will have a concrete plan going in. If Pakura wasn’t so amused by you, it could have ended very badly.”

Gaara promised without hesitation. 

“And I will be the one to talk to the Kazekage,” Iruka held up his hand to forestall any protests. “I promise I’m not just doing that so I can take the fall if something goes wrong. You all have put together quite a complex plan, but face-to-face conversations with the person you are trying to manipulate are a whole nother beast. The Kazekage is not a fool. He knows what tells to look for and will tear you apart if you slip up even once. None of you are that good at reading people yet. Let me do this final step. I know I can pull it off.” 

Gaara stared intently at Iruka’s face for a minute before grinning broadly. “You’re already acting more confident! If you say you can do it, I believe you. It’s probably for the best anyway. We still haven’t figured out what we were going to say to him anyway.”

“You’re entire plan hinged around forcing this meeting and you didn’t even figure out what you wanted to say?” Iruka screamed.

Gaara shrugged again. “We would have come up with something eventually.”

Iruka rubbed his hand over his face, “I’m never you alone again. Next time, I’d probably come back to you communicating with enemy nin to put more pressure on your father.” When Gaara pointedly did not look him in the eye, Iruka had a sinking feeling that he knew part of plan c. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Of course not,” Gaara exclaimed, looking insulted. “We know those are drastic measures and they have not yet become necessary.” He did not, however, look at all chastised.

Iruka decided to scold him for potentially destabilizing the entire village at another time. “Let’s head home. I haven’t eaten many real meals in the last few weeks and I missed cooking. I’m sure Temari and Kankuro will give their caretaker the slip sooner rather than later and will come by demanding I feed them.”

As they made their way back to the village, Iruka started outlining what he would say when he met with the Kazekage. He, unlike some people he could name, knew the importance of preparation for this kind of meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that old meme of two characters contorting themselves to try and protect each other from a bullet? That's Gaara and Iruka in this chapter.
> 
> Gaara is so down for patricide. His solution so literally every problem would be to overthrow the Kazekage. 
> 
> Anyway, I won't have an update next week. School just started back up and I'm kind of slammed. But I'll be back in 3 weeks with Iruka and Rasa's meeting. Hope you enjoyed!


	17. Chapter 17

Iruka decided to wait two days before going to see the Kazekage. Long enough for him to get concerned about the lack of updates about his children’s plot, but short enough that he would not think Iruka was intentionally stalling. Before he left, he extracted a promise from the kids not to cause any problems for three hours. If he hadn’t come back in that time frame, they were free to do whatever they deemed necessary. Iruka immediately regretted this phrasing after seeing the devious looks on their faces, but oh well. If things went as planned, they wouldn’t get the chance to do anything.

When he got to the headquarters, he went upstairs and settled himself in one of the chairs in the room where the Kazekage’s secretary was located. After a few minutes she asked with confusion, “Do you have an appointment?” Iruka guessed not a lot of people just popped in to see the highest-ranking official in the village without an appointment or summons. 

“No, but can you tell him Iruka is here? Believe me, he’s going to want to talk to me.” Iruka smiled pleasantly as she did as he asked. She seemed even more bewildered when she came back out and told him that the Kazekage would speak to him momentarily. Iruka just nodded graciously, trying not to show his nerves. What he was about to do would either make sure Gaara was safe moving forward or get him permanently separated from the siblings. But he needed to do this. For Gaara, the sweet boy who loved Iruka in a borderline obsessive way because Iruka was the first person in his life who loved him for him. For Kankuro, who once admitted to Iruka that he knew his father’s face more from posters than seeing him. For Temari, who felt as the oldest she had to watch out for her idiot brothers and sacrificed so much of herself to do so. They would do anything for Iruka. He had to make sure it didn’t come to that. He loved them too much to ever see them get hurt trying to protect him.

Soon enough, Iruka was called in. Just like the past two times he had been there, the Kazekage ignored him at first, focusing on the paperwork in front of him. Iruka patiently waited out his powerplay, taking the time to organize his thoughts one final time.

“I assume you’re here to beg me not to punish my children for their obvious scheming,” the Kazekage abruptly began. “I had thought you would have taught them better than that by now. Your subtlety and ability to accurately assess what fights you can win are really the only traits you have going for you.”

Iruka ignored the dig at him and solely addressed the Kazekage’s first statement. “No, sir, I’m not here to beg. I’m here to tell you what needs to happen from here on out. First of all, you need to cease any attempts to hurt or kill Gaara. Second, you need to allow Temari and Kankuro to move in with us. Their caretaker is not equipped to take care of them and living together will only strengthen their bond as siblings. Thirdly,” Iruka continued, talking over the Kazekage’s protest, “you need to give me permission to fix Gaara’s seal. A large part of why he cannot control the Onetails is because of the faulty seal he currently has. And finally, you need to give me permission to take Gaara into the village more often and allow him to interact with more people.” Having said his piece, he meant the Kazekage’s incredulous gaze head-on.

“I think you are forgetting your place. Gaara is alive due to my good graces. You do not get to make demands,” the Kazekage replied coolly.

Iruka laughed in his face. “Oh, I think it’s you who is misunderstanding the situation. You have already tried to have him killed multiple times and never succeeded. You don’t have any good graces where Gaara is concerned.”

The Kazekage raised his eyebrow, “If you know my opinion of him, why are you here? I will not change my mind.”

“I don’t expect you to,” Iruka replied calmly. “You are too stubborn to ever admit you were wrong, but you are definitely in the wrong here. You took a child, placed a beast more powerful than most humans could even imagine inside him, improperly I might add, gave him no real support, and expected him to have perfect control over it. Gaara is the future of this village, and you know it. The war with Mist is growing more deadly and we don’t know what the balance of power between the five nations will look like in the near future. You cannot wait to find a new jinchuriki and teach them how to control the Onetails if you kill Gaara. He has not had an outburst in months and his control grows every day. I believe you are many things, but a fool is not one of them. Sacrificing an asset to the village would be bad enough. But your children are rather stubborn as well and if word got out they were plotting against you, none of the other nations would take you seriously. If you can’t even control your children, how can you expect to control a village?”

“You speak of Gaara like he is an asset to the village. But currently he seems to have no attachments beyond you and his siblings. He certainly has no loyalty to me, the head of this village,” the Kazekage shot back.

“That’s why I demanded permission to take him into the village. He is not a malicious child and if he can interact with other villagers and they learn not to be scared of him, he will form attachments quickly.” Waffling about how to address the Kazekage's last point, Iruka decided to go all in. “It is true he is not loyal to you and may never be. You have been nothing but a distant executioner to him. But if you grant these demands, he will become more connected to this village than he ever was before. And he will see that you do have the best interests of the village in mind and will listen to your commands.”

“I do not like the idea of having a powerful weapon who is more loyal to a refugee chunin than me,” The Kazekage stated. “I could just remove you.”

Iruka smirked, “Feel free to try. I doubt my children to kindly to that. And they never understood the concept of small-scale plans. You will find that the entire village will suffer.”

For the first time ever, the Kazekage gave Iruka his full attention. “I will allow your requests, for now. Get my children to cease their plotting and make sure they never dare to try something similar in the future. If anything, anything, goes wrong, you will be separated and I will decide how to manage the jinchuriki. I will inform Temari and Kankuro’s caretaker of the change in arrangements and they should be moved in during the next few days. The house you are currently in is too small. I will have a larger one constructed for you nearby. To start, you may take Gaara into the village proper for one hour a week. If he behaves, I will gradually increase this amount. I expect weekly progress reports about his behavior. I will allow you to amend the seal. But I require that the barrier team constructs their strongest barrier around you two while you try and if anything goes wrong, no one will help you.”

Iruka did not protest any of these conditions. They both knew that the Kazekage had essentially admitted he had no power over Iruka and the kids the second he had given in to Iruka’s demands. If he had, he would have just refused Iruka and maybe thrown him out of his office for daring to order around the Kazekage. Iruka allowed him to soothe his ego through these extensive requirements. 

Finally, Iruka turned to leave, satisfied with how this meeting had gone. “Iruka,” the Kazekage called after him as he put his hand on the doorknob, “everything I did was for the good of the village.”

Iruka did not turn around but clearly said, “I believe that you believe that.” That man had caused his children so much agony over the years. It was not Iruka’s responsibility to absolve him from his wrongdoings. 

Iruka maintained his composure until he found a deserted alleyway to duck into. As soon as he was sure he was alone, he collapsed, pulling his knees up to his chest and fighting to breathe. He had gotten everything he needed out of the meeting, but he just couldn’t get his body to get the message and calm down. As long as Iruka had remembered, he had feared the Kazekage. Perhaps some saw their leader as a benevolent guardian, but Iruka always thought he cared more about power than anything else. Perhaps it’s because Iruka was an outsider with no bloodline jutsus, but Iruka also got the sense that the Kazekage couldn’t care less if he went out on a mission one day and never came back. Iruka knew death was a part of shinobi life and leaders had to sometimes sacrifice people for the good of the village, but it was more than that. He felt that the Kazekage would sacrifice Iruka for a broken bottle if the mood struck. He could never bring himself to fully trust the man, but since no one else seemed to have an issue with him, Iruka figured maybe it was just him the Kazekage acted this way towards. That obviously wasn’t a good feeling, but Iruka was at least content in the knowledge that the Kazekage wouldn’t sacrifice anyone else just because he wanted to.

But then he met Gaara, Iruka thought fondly, as he rested his hand on his sand bracelet. And in the back of his mind, he knew he was right about the Kazekage’s character and it was not as limited as he had hoped. Seeing Temari and Kankuro and how their father had essentially tossed them away only cemented this opinion. The Kazekage could tell himself whatever pretty lies he wanted about how his actions were for the good of the village, Iruka knew that was bullshit. Iruka and his children were elements that the Kazekage could not fully control and so he either ignored them, if he deemed them unimportant (Temari, Kankuro, Iruka) or he tried to get rid of them because they didn’t fit in his perfect world (Gaara). But he miscalculated the instant he put Iruka in charge of Gaara. He probably expected to Gaara to kill Iruka within the week and then would keep trying to kill Gaara until he eventually succeeded. He never could have imagined the bond they would form. But Iruka always had been good at crushing others’ expectations of him. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro had become the center of his world. And in his desire to protect them, he found he was more powerful than even he had ever imagined. Years worth of learning how to manipulate his opponents based on their view of him and the knowledge he knew they possessed had culminated in that meeting.

And now, he thought with satisfaction, the Kazekage couldn’t touch them. Oh, he was sure the man would try and push in the next few months to see if Iruka would break. But he wouldn’t. And the Kazekage would eventually have to back down. Drying his eyes and shakingly getting to his feet, Iruka started to make his way home. He was sure the kids were worried about him.

As he neared their house, he saw smoke. Shit, the Kazekage wouldn’t have tried anything, would he? Iruka thought frantically. He thought he had him cornered. Breaking into a run, he threw himself through the front door and followed the smell of burning towards the kitchen. Once there, he let out a sigh of relief. Scorpion was standing in front of their now ruined stove, with all three kids pouting in the corner.

"Oh good, you’re back,” Scorpion said with the most emotion Iruka had ever heard from him. “Please deal with your disaster children.” With that, he disappeared to the rooftop.

Iruka made a mental note to thank him later and fixed his gaze on the kids. “Alright, who wants to tell me what happened?”

Surprisingly enough, Kankuro was the one to explain. “We wanted to make you lunch like you make for us.” Both glanced over to the smoldering remains of their best pot and the destroyed stove. “It, uh, didn’t go so well.” Then in the gleeful manner of younger siblings everywhere, he happily reported, “But it was not at all my fault. This one was all Temari and Gaara. They don’t trust me in the kitchen.”

Iruka paused for a moment to visualize what exactly would happen if they allowed Kankuro free reign of a kitchen. Given what had happened just now with the two supposedly more competent ones working, he would probably destroy the entire house. “How exactly did you destroy both my best pot and the stove? What exactly were you trying to make?”

“We were just making rice,” Temari admitted. “And we might have kinda sort of forgot to add water,” She said in one big breath. “And then we got distracted with planning another prank and didn’t realize something was burning until the stove caught on fire. Luckily, Gaara was able to smother it with his sand before it could spread. Then Scorpion arrived and forbade us from touching any kitchen appliances until you got back.”

Iruka just stared at them, “Gaara, you’ve seen me make rice how many times? And Temari, you’ve helped me make it many times. There are two ingredients, how do you forget one?” Both Temari and Gaara looked embarrassed and protested that they got so excited about making something for Iruka that they didn’t think things through. After hearing that explanation, Iruka really couldn’t stay annoyed.”Well, I guess it’s the thought that counts. Just please be more careful in the future. I don’t want to ask for repairs because you can’t cook rice. It’s a good thing we are moving soon,” he commented under his breath.

Of course, the kids picked up on that and immediately started bombarding him with questions about how the meeting went. Iruka broke out into a smile, “It went about as well as I could have hoped. First things first, Temari and Kankuro, the Kazekage agreed to let you move in with us. We’re getting a bigger house near here so we can all fit comfortably.” Both kids let out whoops of glee and jumped on Iruka for a group hug, pulling Gaara with them. They cheered even more when they found out they wouldn’t have to deal with their caretaker anymore. “More importantly,” Iruka continued, “the Kazekage has agreed to stop interfering with us as long as you stop plotting against him.” That was a little bit of an oversimplification but essentially captured the terms. All three gave him their best innocent smiles and assured him they would. Iruka didn’t believe that for a second, but he would at least make sure they were more subtle in the future. Also, Gaara still needed to work on his “innocent” smile. It made him look more like he was contemplating murder than anything else.

Moving was exactly as exhausting as Iruka thought it would be. Even more exhausting was dealing with the kids who were not at all tired from “helping” all day. Iruka eventually sent them to run around outside under Scorpion’s watchful eye, after their “helping” knocked the fifth box of the day over. At least this one didn’t somehow fall out the window like one of the ones earlier had. Pakura and Mari were doing their own version of “helping” which was mainly just laughing at Iruka and occasionally unpacking a box or two. He needed better friends. Maybe now that he could actually go into the village, he could find some.

Their new house was much bigger than the old one. It was still on the outskirts of the village but had five bedrooms, a nicer kitchen, and a large living room. Pakura had joked earlier that the fifth room was for the next poor kid Iruka claimed as his own. Temari and Kankuro had picked out rooms next to each other while Gaara had waited until Iruka had settled into his room and just moved in there too. Iruka had sighed dramatically but assured Gaara he didn’t mind at all. 

At dinner that night Iruka looked around the table and felt so much joy at seeing everyone he cared for. Kankuro was trying to convince Mari to teach him more poisons while Temari was begging Pakura to train her. Gaara was cutting into Kankuro’s demands to ask Mari if she could teach him some basic first aid, which promptly made her coo over him and promise to do so. He felt Scorpion's chakra, always so steady on the roof-top above and resolved to save him some dinner. When the moved to the living room, the kids apparently got bored pestering their guests and instead surrounded Iruka. Kankuro was sprawled out against his left side while Temari curled up to his right. Gaara had made himself comfortable in his lap and they were all pestering Iruka to help them plan another prank and teach them more techniques. Pakura oh so innocently offered her services as a distraction and Iruka glared at her, knowing they were now set on pulling off an even bigger prank soon. 

But he really couldn’t complain. As he relaxed in their new house, with all three kids with him, safe and happy, he felt content. Everything he had hoped for was coming together. Well almost. There were just a few more things to take care of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Kazekage was in no way, shape, or form prepared to deal with Iruka when he was on the warpath for his kids. I think I've made my opinion of him pretty clear. Even if he (and the show) claims his actions are for the good of the village, that never made any sense to me. Even putting aside that he is Gaara's father and should love and protect him, not try to kill him, jinchuriki are viewed as great assets to their village if they can control the bijuu. Why would he try and kill Gaara instead of helping him learn to control it? He was what six when the thing with Yashamuru went down? No six-year-old has complete control of their own emotions, let alone control of an insanely powerful chakra monster that was shoved into him. Gaara is so desperate for love, he would have done anything for the Kazekage's approval at that time. Which is super fucked up but if he truly cared about the village and not just himself Rasa could have made Gaara very loyal to him with just a few kind words and you know, not trying to MURDER the kid. Of course, I wouldn't have wanted him to do this since he would have been manipulating Gaara for his own ends while pretending he cared about him, but he had options besides what he did. And saying he did what he thought was best for the village in no way excuses or makes up for his terrible actions. That was a much longer rant than I intended but it fits with the overall feel of this story so I'm dumping it here.
> 
> The image of Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara trying to cook is just hilarious to me. They banish Kankuro but then mess up the simplest dish and Kankuro gets to gleefully report that he wasn't the one who set something on fire this time, that was all them. The three of them under the same roof 24/7 is going to be a trip.
> 
> Anyway, there will be one more chapter and then an epilogue after this.


	18. Chapter 18

“You’re sure you’re up to this tonight?” Iruka asked for probably the eighth time.

Gaara sent him a rather unimpressed look, “Yes, Iruka. I promise. Just like the last five times you asked.” He muttered the last part under his breath.

“What was that?” Iruka asked, pausing in his preparations.

“Nothing,” Gaara sang innocently.

Iruka rolled his eyes and triple checked that everything was perfect. This was the night he was finally going to fix Gaara’s seal. He had continued the adjustments every night until their fifth night in the new house. At that point, he had reached the limits of the current seal. He contacted the head of the sealing division, who had been on standby ever since Iruka’s little chat with the Kazekage and he said they could have their strongest barrier ready to go by the day after tomorrow. Knowing it was better to get this over with sooner rather than later Iruka agreed to that date. And now here they were. The sealing division had set up shop in the desert a few miles outside of the village.

Iruka had spent much of the last 48 hours in a sealing frenzy. He went over all the materials his parents had left about Gaara’s seal multiple times to make sure he had the best seal. Then he went back and double-checked everything to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. By the time he was about to start his third run-through, the kids had gotten bored watching him run around in a craze and dragged him outside to help them with some trapping techniques. Iruka decided to go ahead and teach them something new. It would hopefully take their minds off what was about to happen. If things went wrong, Iruka didn’t know what would happen. Gaara could be killed or completely taken over by the Onetails. He would just have to make sure that didn’t happen. 

The three had already mastered basic trip wires so Iruka decided it was time to add another layer. He showed them how to attach the tripwire to a projectile that would launch when the trap was activated. When Kankuro complained that this was boring, Iruka decided to demonstrate his ultimate projectile trap. When the first tripwire was touch, it set off a number of senbon. If his enemy was hit, good, they would be unconscious in thirty seconds from the poison. However, he left open two escape routes. In both locations, he rigged up another tripwire. These launched one kunai with an exploding tag on the end. If the enemy dodged without diverting the weapon’s course, the kunai would cut through the final wire which would cause the barrier seals around the perimeter of the trap to activate and Iruka could throw an exploding tag in and finish them off at his leisure. If the enemy diverted the course of the kunai, Iruka had fail-safe wires in the most common spots for the kunai to land, which would also set off the barrier seals. If they somehow managed not to trip any of the wires, Iruka still had a time-delayed barrier seal in motion. It started the countdown when the first tripwire was tripped and would activate thirty seconds after that. Iruka had spent the better part of a year creating this trap and ironing out all the wrinkles. It was quite frankly unnecessarily complicated, but it always worked and was fun, so he never bothered to change it. 

By the end of his explanation, the kids thought projectile traps were the coolest thing ever and couldn’t wait to make a death trap of their own. However, knowing Iruka’s teaching style as they did, they knew they would not get to work on something that elaborate until they could demonstrate that they possessed a solid grasp of the basics. All three of them set to work with determination to master this trap quickly.

Iruka made the executive decision to position Kankuro quite a ways away from the other two and only give him small blunt sticks to work with. Knowing how he often caught himself in his own traps, Iruka wanted to make sure he didn’t get hurt. It was a wise decision considering five minutes after starting, Kankuro had already managed to rig his trap up backwards so the stick shot back at him instead of forward towards the clone of Iruka that was his target. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the backyard, working on the basics. No one was severely injured by the time Iruka decided it was time for dinner and this had helped him take his mind off Gaara’s seal so Iruka counted it as a win. During dinner, he tried to keep the mood light but all three kids knew what was happening later that evening, and each was lost in their own thoughts. Iruka had told Temari and Kankuro the full story of how the Onetails was sealed within Gaara and how that seal influenced his behavior. He explained that later that week he was going to try to fix the seal which would hopefully limit the instability. But he truthfully told them that this was a dangerous process and could end up hurting Gaara or Iruka, depending on what happened. Both took this news seriously but wished Iruka the best of luck. 

Iruka was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it to reveal Mari, who he quickly invited in. Iruka had asked her to stay with Temari and Kankuro while he was working on the seal. He knew Scorpion would also be there to watch over them, but he felt safer knowing Mari was there too. If something went wrong and Scorpion was called out to deal with the situation, at least Mari would be with the kids and could protect them. “I’m going to grab my suppliers,” Iruka informed the kids. “It’s almost time to head out,” he told Gaara. The boy nodded, the only sign of his nervousness was the sand twisting behind him. Iruka hurried to his room to grab the kit he had put together for this, checking everything over once again. When he arrived back downstairs, he came across a rather odd sight. Mari was looking on in amusement while Gaara had his shirt pulled up past his stomach so Temari and Kankuro could talk directly to it.

As Iruka moved closer, he caught what they were saying, “Now I know you are some huge chakra beast but if you mess with my little brother or Iruka, I will make you regret it,” Temari lectured. 

“Yeah, behave yourself,” Kankuro chimed in. “Gaara and Iruka are awesome so you better not try and take them from us.”

Iruka couldn’t stop himself from giggling. All three looked up, wearing similar expressions of guilt when they saw him. Iruka waved them off. The fact that those two decided to threaten a bijuu to be nice to their brother and him was one of the sweetest things ever, even if Iruka doubted they could follow through on their threats currently.

“I appreciate it,” Iruka told them. “I’m sure everything will work just fine now that you have terrorized the bijuu into submission.” The kids gave him a look that said they weren’t sure whether he was making fun of them or not. He sort of was, but truthfully their actions made him feel better about the procedure. “Ready to go, Gaara?”

“Yes,” Gaara responded. He hesitated before throwing his arms around his siblings. Both looked pleasantly surprised. Gaara would usually participate in group hugs but this was the first time he had initiated one. Iruka hugged both the kids and Mari before leaving as well. He didn’t allow himself extended good-byes. A resolution burned in his heart. This wouldn’t be the last time he saw them. He would stabilize the seal and make sure both he and Gaara came through unscathed. 

The pair quickly made their way to the stretch of desert where the seals unit was. The leader gestured for them to stand in the middle before finishing up their preparations. 

“We’re starting the barrier now,” The head of the seals unit informed Iruka. “Begin when you are ready.”

Iruka waited for the barrier to materialize before turning back to Gaara. This barrier was one of the strongest he had ever encountered, certainly stronger than anything he could create. It must require an enormous amount of chakra and concentration to maintain it. The leader of the unit had told him they could maintain it for close to an hour, but Iruka was not keen on testing that limit. He guessed changing the seal would not take more than 15 minutes, but this was a seal to contain a bijuu. It was likely that something would go wrong.

“Gaara, I’m going to start now, alright?” After Gaara nodded, Iruka started applying the temporary seal. While not strong enough to hold for long, it would give Iruka enough time to clear the remnants of the old seal off of Gaara and set-up the new and improved one. Hopefully. It’s not like Iruka had an opportunity to test this out beforehand. But this was the only way to completely change the seal while still keeping the Onetails contained. “Once I start, I have to concentrate completely so I will need you to tell me if something is wrong either with you or the barrier around us because I might not notice.”

“I’ll keep an eye on things and tell you if something feels off,” Gaara promised. He then reached out and grabbed Iruka’s hand, “I trust you and know you can do this.”

Iruka squeezed Gaara’s hand gently before letting it drop. “Thank you.”

Letting out a deep breath, Iruka arranged everything he would need in the order he would need it. Larger brushes for the temporary seal, smaller ones for the more detailed permanent one, and a plethora of sealing ink. Iruka gestured for Gaara to lay down and remove his shirt. Another reason for him to complete this quickly, he didn’t want to the poor boy to catch a cold out here. 

Gaara complied without hesitation and Iruka started to draw the temporary seal. It was fairly simple just a circle with four characters outside it, equidistant from each other. “I’m going to start removing your other seal now,” Iruka warned. This would probably be the last time he could inform Gaara of what was going on until the procedure was over. Here on out was the real challenge.

Iruka began to remove the characters around Gaara’s seal quickly. He left the circular design for last so at least some of the old seal was taking the strain of holding back the Onetails for as long as possible. As soon as he completely destroyed the old seal, Iruka gritted his teeth as he could feel his temporary seal struggling to hold. It was like nothing Iruka had ever experienced. Usually, his seals either held or instantly shattered after a hit that was too strong for them to contain. But this felt like something was repeatedly throwing itself against Iruka’s seals and just waiting for them to crack. Unlike jutsu, this was a sentient being and Iruka could feel its hatred towards him.

Shivering for reasons that had nothing to do with the cool desert air, Iruka hurried to complete his new seal. He had to force his hands not to shake as he transcribed the seal onto Gaara’s stomach. He had never made a seal in a high-pressure situation like this before. He usually prepared his seals before they were necessary and even if he made a mistake, usually it was just his life and maybe the lives of the other shinobi on the mission with him at risk. But if he messed this up, the whole of Sand might suffer for it. More importantly, his kids definitely would.

Finally, Iruka drew the last necessary symbol and pushed all the chakra he had at the moment into the seal to jump-start it. If it worked properly, it would draw its strength from the Onetails own power from now on. Iruka glanced up to make sure that Gaara was alright when he realized something was wrong. He was no longer in the desert working on Gaara, but alone in darkness. He couldn’t see anything around him nor could he sense any shinobi- just an insanely powerful chakra. It felt almost… familiar but not. He knew he had sensed it before- Wait.

“So you’re the pathetic human that dares to mess with me,” The Onetails suddenly appeared in Iruka’s field of vision looming over him. “You’re a lot less impressive than I imagined.”

Iruka now recognized the chakra as the same he had felt when Gaara tried to kill him months ago. He glanced around desperately, trying to figure out what to do. He had used up all of his chakra initiating the seal and none of the standard barriers seals he had on him would do anything against a bijuu. So Iruka did what he always did in this kind of situation- just let his mouth run and hope for the best.

Fixing the Onetails with the same unimpressed look he would give a jonin who tried to hold their status over his head, he said dismissively, “Oh you’re the bijuu that’s been causing all those problems for Gaara. For an almighty creature of chakra, I expected something more, I don’t know, terrifying-looking. Your tail isn’t even that impressive.”

The Onetails let out a snarl and swung his admittedly huge tail at Iruka, who neatly rolled out of the way. Luckily for him, the creature seemed to decide a further attack wasn’t worth the energy.

"Why am I here?” Iruka questioned him, partly as a distraction, partly out of genuine curiosity. “Last thing I remember I was finishing the seal on Gaara and then I was suddenly transported here.”

“Welcome to my prison,” The Onetails replied. “Anytime anyone succeeds in altering the seal, they are transported here. Think of it as a final hurdle.”

“Well that’s a terrible design flaw,” Iruka shot back. “I really need to file an official complaint.” For the kids’ next prank, Iruka decided, he was going to mix some terrible smelling plants into very difficult to remove paint and have them dump the mixture on the house of whoever made Gaara’s last seal. Scorpion should have access to that information, right?

The Onetails laughed at him, “You humans always think you have control of us. But you don’t, not really. All of us have some amount of influence over our jinchuriki and all of us can force people messing with the seals that bind us to enter our cages. Nothing the seal-maker does can change that.”

Iruka wasn’t sure whether the bijuu was telling the truth but decided to believe it for now. He was still going ahead with the prank though. “Well then, what do you want with me?”

The Onetails flicked its tail scornfully, “I don’t care about you, human. I just don’t like it when someone messes with the seal imprisoning me. Haven’t you all done enough already?” Iruka could sense the rage building in the creature. “I can still feel your pathetic attempts at harming me.”

This thing really did not like humans, Iruka noted. But what did he mean by that last statement? Iruka would never intentionally try and mess with a bijuu and Gaara certainly didn’t have the control or inclination either. Could it be that the seal itself was impacting the Onetails in a similar way the Onetails was impacting Gaara? “You mean the seal itself affects you too, more than just keeping you contained,” Iruka asked, wanting to make sure his theory was correct.

“You call that a seal?” The Onetails snorted. “I have been sealed inside many jinchurikis over the years and this seal is an insult to my power. Tell me how many humans has the brat killed? He’s so easy to influence, calling me Mother and wanting to please me. Until you came along that is.” Iruka forced himself to push his rage over the monster’s treatment of Gaara down. He needed to stay calm. He didn’t know how to escape this void or what was going on in the outside world while he was here. He had to get the Onetails to reveal more information. He noticed how it didn’t really answer his question about the seal. 

“If you’re so powerful and the seal is so weak, then why haven’t you forced your way out by now?” Iruka taunted the Onetails. “Sure, you’ve pushed Gaara to kill a few shinobi but that’s not all that impressive. What are you waiting for?” If Iruka had learned one thing over the years it was that people who thought they had power hated being questioned by those they deemed as weaker than them. Doing so was the easiest way to make them lose their cool and reveal more than they intended. Iruka just hoped the same trick would work on huge chakra monsters. 

It seemed like he had no reason for concern as the Onetails sputtered its denials. “Why would I? I was just waiting for the right moment. This container is so easy to manipulate, I wanted to take advantage of that as long as I could.” And various other contradictory statements.

“The seal destabilizes you, just like you and the seal destabilized Gaara. That’s why your actions don’t make sense to me or even to you when you try to justify them. The seal didn’t just imprison you, it slowly stripped you of your consciousness,” Iruka was on a roll now. “That’s why the Kazekage was so insistent on killing Gaara instead of waiting to see if he could control you better as he grew older. The longer that seal influenced you the more dangerous you became and Gaara would never be able to control you fully. The “failed experiment” wasn’t just Gaara but the seal, too. They probably thought that you would be easier to control if you were just a mindless beast without your intense hatred of humans and own plans, but really that just made you more difficult to contain. You kept enough of yourself to maintain your hatred of humans but lost enough that you could barely control your own chakra, so of course Gaara wouldn’t be able to.” Iruka started to pace, muttering to himself, “My seal has stopped that process, but will it eventually reverse the effects? Or do I need to add something more to it to achieve that? I knew there were some weird symbols on the other one, I just hadn’t figured out what they were supposed to do. I’ll have to review it again.” Iruka was already picturing the modifications he might make and the potential consequences of different techniques. 

Iruka finally noticed that he had been pacing back and forth for a while and the Onetails was just watching him in, confusion maybe? “What?” he asked rather defensively. Many of his classmates in the academy had made fun of his sealing rants. He couldn’t help it! Once he found a problem he had never encountered before, he felt compelled to think through it and try and develop a seal to solve said problem. It was some of his favorite things about seals- how versatile and fun to adopt they were.

“You dare to assume you puny humans could influence me?” the Onetails roared.

“Yes, yes, you’re a chakra monster who has killed more people than I’ve eaten meals, or whatever,” Goodness dealing with this creature was really just like dealing with a self-important jonin times 10. “Quit whining and tell me more about the seal and yourself.”

The Onetails looked like it was contemplating just squashing Iruka then and there and so ending this conversation. However, after a little more grumbling it started divulging information to Iruka. How the seal had felt different than the ones before. How it had more influence over Gaara than it did the previous jinchurikis but it always felt out of control when communicating with Gaara. And of course, every other sentence was a complaint about how much it hated humans for doing this to it. 

Iruka started sketching some preliminary ideas about seals that could combat the destabilizing effect the previous seal had caused. “What do you think you’re doing,” the Onetails protested, “I’ve had enough of humans messing with me through those weird seals. I should just kill you right now.”

Iruka ignored the death threat like he had the ten before. He was pretty sure that either the Onetails couldn’t actually harm him here or it just didn’t want to but felt the need to make its displeasure known. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I want what is best for Gaara. And he cannot live with your voice in his head constantly telling him to attack his allies. But he has grown used to your presence and power and completely blocking you off would only hurt him more. So we need a solution that benefits everyone.”

“Just let me out of this cage and I won’t harm your precious boy,” The Onetails offered.

Iruka gave him another unimpressed look, “I don’t want you destroying the entire village either, which I know you would if you could. Plus, I know a little bit about jinchuriki and knowing you being pulled out would kill Gaara. Which is unacceptable.” Before the Onetails could offer another equally one-sided solution, Iruka gestured to the seals he had drawn on paper that had appeared when he asked for the creature for some. Creepy void world apparently had their perks. “Here are two seals that I think would help. The first one would put a temporary barrier between you two while this portion would work to reverse the effects of the last seal. Once that process is complete, the barrier would slowly dissolve, giving you the chance to get used to each other. You would not have as much influence over Gaara but you would be able to speak to him and experience the outside world through him. The other would also reverse the old effects but would create a more permanent barrier. Either one of you could reach out for the other but would have to want until the receiver chose to respond before you could communicate. The outside world would not bleed through as much with the second one. Preferences?”

The Onetails looked surprised, “You’re asking me? I thought you would just choose whatever one was best for the brat.”

“I may have some information about bijuu and their jinchuriki, but I am still an outside party. It is not for me to decide this when I am not the one immediately affected by it. I will offer Gaara advice and explain the options to him, but in the end, it is a decision you two must reach together without outside interference.”

The Onetails held Iruka’s gaze. For the first time, Iruka did not see only rage in its eyes, but a deep weariness as well. While Iruka still resented it for all the pain it had caused Gaara, he could not blame it for hating humans who had locked it away and used it for power for hundreds of years. “Look, Onetails, I will never allow you to be free. That is simply not feasible with the shaky balance of power. But this seal will not take anything other than your freedom away from you. I can at least promise you that much. However, if you continue to purposely hurt Gaara, I will have to resort to more drastic measures that would completely cut you off from the outside world. I have already fought my Kazekage to protect Gaara, don’t think I won’t fight you too. Do you understand me?”

“Talk it over with the kid, but I’d prefer the first barrier. If I’m stuck in here I at least want a conversation partner.” Iruka smiled, knowing the being had accepted his terms. “And it’s Shukaku, not Onetails.”

“What?” Iruka asked.

“Onetails is the “name” humans gave me. Shukaku is the name my father gave me. If you are so intent on sticking around, I figured you should at least know my name,” Shukaku shrugged like it didn’t matter to him but Iruka saw through that instantly.

“Nice to meet you, Shukaku, I’m Iruka Umino. Your jinchuriki’s name is Gaara. Please use it,” Iruka instructed.

Shukaku snorted, “Whatever. You should leave. No time will have passed outside of this area but I imagine you want to get back to the br-to Gaara,” he corrected himself. “Keep me updated about the seal.”

“I will,” Iruka promised. “Please let Gaara know if you feel something is wrong.”

Shukaku nodded, “Alright off you go. I need to sleep for a while after dealing with a human for so long.”

Iruka did not take offense. He walked towards the spot of light that had just appeared in the dark cavern. He turned back to wave, which Shukaku pretended to ignore, before walking through it. He sat up with a gasp, looking around frantically. Just like Shukaku had promised, no time had passed and Gaara was still lying beside him. 

“Are you done? Can I sit up now?” He asked.

Iruka reached over to gently help him sit up as an answer, “Are you alright? Do you feel any pain?” He patted Gaara, just to reassure himself that he was alright. 

“No pain, but I do feel something odd,” Gaara admitted. “The presence that I thought was Mother is back, but it feels different from before. It’s more separate and not pushing at me. It also feels less harsh,” Gaara tried to explain. 

“Good. That means it worked,” Iruka sighed in relief. “We will have to talk about a decision you need to make regarding your seal in a little while, but for now, everything is alright.” He gave Gaara a careful hug before signaling the all-clear to the leader of the sealing division. He was unsurprised when they conducted their own tests before believing that Iruka had succeeded and taking the barrier down. Iruka nodded to them and made sure to thank the leader before the unit headed back to the village to report to the Kazekage.

Iruka scooped Gaara up, “Let’s go home, shall we? I’m sure your siblings are getting worried. We should build a blanket fort tonight so we can all stay together.”

Gaara was very excited about that idea but as Iruka carried him back to their house, he drifted closer and closer to sleep. Iruka paused just outside the village, shifting Gaara so he could rest more comfortably on Iruka’s shoulder and hummed a lullaby his parents used to sing to him. “We’re going to be alright,” Iruka said aloud, not sure if it was a vow or a statement of relief. “Nothing can stop us now.” Pressing a kiss to Gaara’s forehead, he hurried towards their home. He couldn’t wait to have all his kids together and safe under one roof at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've really outdone myself with this weeks' bullshitting about seals, but oh well. It sort of makes sense, maybe. 
> 
> The conversation between Iruka and Shukaku has been in my mind pretty much since I started writing this fic, but I could never find a good place to put it in. That's why I had Iruka "adjusting" Gaara's old seal so I could put off writing this scene until it fit better. Guess I just ended up saving it until the last possible moment. 
> 
> Just the epilogue left now!!


	19. Chapter 19

“Third hit, Gaara, you’re out,” Iruka yelled. Gaara obediently moved out of the ring, coming to stand next to Iruka. He focused intently on his siblings, wanting to avoid being the first one out again next time.

It had been six months since Iruka had fixed Gaara’s seal. Life had definitely improved for all of them. Temari had convinced Pakura to train with her whenever the jonin was in the village. She had made fast friends with Pakura’s student Maki, who had basically moved in with them. When Iruka had found out she was an orphan, he had told her she could stay over whenever she wanted. The first month after the invitation, she had spent maybe one night a week at their house. Once it became clear everyone enjoyed having her around and she loved it there, she quickly moved in, claiming the room opposite Temari’s. 

Iruka had waited to extend this invitation until he was sure Gaara was alright with her. He shouldn’t have worried. Maki knew enough about Gaara from Pakura’s and Temari’s stories that she wasn’t at all afraid of him when they first met. This was a new experience for Gaara. Even Iruka and his siblings had feared him at some point. Maki and Gaara quickly became fast friends, teaming up against Temari and Kankuro in some truly epic prank wars which no one in the village was safe from. Maki had some catching up to do compared to the siblings who had been perfecting their pranking techniques for months prior, but she was holding her own. She loved seals more than the siblings and was forever begging Iruka to teach her more. All and all, she made a great addition to their ragtag little family.

Iruka was pulled back into the present when Temari let out a shriek of surprise. One of Kankuro’s traps had caught her off guard and yanked her upside down in the air by her ankle. Iruka was surprised that had succeeded. He had seen the trap all the way from over here and Temari was no fool. “Match over. Kankuro wins,” Iruka called out, going over to help Temari down. As he looked over the trap, he understood why it had tricked Temari. “You purposefully had it look like you messed up, didn’t you?” he asked Kankuro.

The boy grinned happily, “Uh-huh. I found a different way for the trap to work one time by accident.” Meaning he had set it up wrong and gotten himself caught in it, Iruka translated. “It will still go off but it looks like I messed the set-up up. You said you should use our opponent's knowledge against them and I knew that Temari knew I had struggled with making that trap. And she fell for it!” Kankuro crowed. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Temari grumbled, “rub it in. I’ll get you back next time.” Iruka chuckled and instructed the siblings to work on their trapping techniques individually. He had come up with this method of training soon after they all moved in together. The siblings obviously loved each other but also drove each other crazy most of the time. A three-way fight every week helped resolve that tension and spared the house from too much damage. The only rules were Gaara couldn’t use his sand, Temari couldn’t use her fan, and Kankuro couldn’t use his puppets. This forced them to think outside the box as well as limited the risk of serious injury. 

Maki would take part in these matches when she was around, but she had to go to the academy for most of the day. None of the kids had ever gone to the academy. Gaara obviously hadn’t been trusted around other children and the Kazekage had gotten specialized teachers for the other two instead. They asked Maki endless questions about the academy, but whenever Iruka said he could talk to the Kazekage about letting them attend, they said Iruka was a much better teacher than whoever they would get there and they liked learning things with him. Iruka allowed this for now, but eventually, he would ensure that they could at least go for half days. They needed more social interaction with children their age. 

“Enough of that,” Iruka warned Kankuro who was currently sticking his tongue out at his sister. “Now who wants to help me with lunch?” All three children enthusiastically volunteered so Iruka ushered them all inside. He put Temari and Gaara on chopping duty while he let Kankuro help him add all the ingredients together. Ever since the rice cooking debacle, he kept a close eye on the kids while they were in the kitchen and never allowed them to work without his supervision. Surprisingly Kankuro was less of a disaster than his siblings. While he was usually the most easily distracted, while in the kitchen he was actually rather organized. Iruka kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far his kitchen was disaster-free. 

“Are Pakura and Mari coming over for dinner tonight?” Temari wanted to know. 

“Of course,” Iruka replied. “What other poor sucker are they going to charm food from?” Pakura had just returned to the village. Whenever she was in the village, she made it a point to visit Iruka and the kids. She had laughed so hard she fell over when she came home to find Maki had moved in with them while she was gone. Iruka really needed better friends. Mari was quite busy helping all the wounded from the war, but would at least come to dinner the first-night Pakura was back each time. Despite her insane schedule, she found time to teach Gaara basic healing techniques and Kankuro more poisons. 

Iruka hadn’t been quite sure why Gaara was so intent on learning healing until he asked him one night. He would never forget his response. Gaara had thought about the question for a moment then responded, “I hurt a lot of people. Even if I wasn’t fully in control of my actions, I remember doing it and even enjoying the power I felt doing it. I can’t change that now. But I can help my allies when they are hurt and maybe that will make people trust me a little bit more.” Iruka couldn’t stop himself from gathering Gaara in a tight hug and telling him how proud he was of him. While Gaara still struggled with the intense chakra control necessary for healing, he was making progress and Iruka knew he would be at least a competent field healer someday. 

“Iruka, when are we going to the market?” Temari asked. Going to the market was one of the kids’ favorite activities. Iruka had started off slow, just bringing one of them at first, knowing the three of them would cause some kind of disaster if they all went together. It turned out he was right since the first time all of them went shopping, the three of them somehow managed to knock over a clothing booth and make the eternal enemy of the seller when Iruka had turned his back for one minute. Iruka was baffled about how they managed that since they were honestly trying to be on their best behavior. He never got a satisfactory answer out of them, either. But other than that, things had gone relatively smoothly. Most people were still wary of Gaara, but Iruka could sense attitudes were slowly changing. With every week that went by without a murderous incident, the Kazekage allowed Gaara to spend more time in the village proper. Iruka took the kids on a lot of walks through the village, to get them more accustomed to being around large groups of people and get people more adjusted to them. Pakura and Mari would sometimes walk with them when they were free and Shingo and Naomi had even accompanied them a few times. Shingo kept requesting specific colors for the next prank, requests which the kids were delighted to fulfill. Naomi typically just looked at them in amusement although she would get pulled into conversations involving close-range weapons.

Last week someone Iruka recognized from the seals division had voluntarily approached the group to talk to Iruka about seals and didn’t flinch once, even when Gaara had grabbed his hand to show him something. The village was learning to accept Gaara. Iruka wouldn’t allow any alternative. 

“We don’t need anything right now. But we’ll need more food in a few days, so we’ll go then. If you all manage to behave we can even get dango,” Iruka promised. The kids’ eyes lit up at that since it wasn’t often Iruka bought them sweets. Primarily because he didn’t want to wrangle them when they were hyped up on sugar. “Make a list of everything you think we need,” Iruka instructed. Not that they ever stuck to the list but this way he made sure he did not forget any of the really important items. 

The rest of the afternoon passed by quickly, with all the cleaning and cooking they needed to do before guests arrived. Dinner, of course, was barely organized chaos with the kids pestering Pakura for war stories and Mari cutting in to describe gruesome battle injuries. Iruka just sat back and watched the kids eww in disgust before immediately wanting to know more. He had made sure to leave a plate by the kitchen window for Scorpion to grab and could feel his calm presence on the roof, watching over them all. 

Soon enough, it was time for bed and Iruka ushered the kids upstairs after a round of good-byes. He made sure the other three were settled in before returning to the room Gaara and him shared. The boy was perched on the edge of the bed, “Time to talk to Shukaku, right?” he asked. Iruka nodded. Every week since changing Gaara’s seal, Iruka would enter the black void where Shukaku was restrained and talk to him.

Iruka pressed his hand to Gaara’s seal and was drawn into Shukaku’s space. Opening his eyes, he saw the bijuu crouched in front of him. “Oh, you’re back again.” He commented, just like he did every time Iruka appeared. 

“How are you feeling?” Iruka asked, having learned that directedness was the best way to get through to the creature. Of course, he could avoid Iruka’s questions for a while, but if Iruka just kept asking, eventually he would cave. 

It seemed like Shukaku was finally warming up to Iruka or maybe wanted to get this over with quickly so he could go back to sleep because Iruka only had to prod him twice before he answered, “I feel more like before,” he admitted grudgingly. “Your seal is actually doing what you claimed it would.” Iruka preened a little under the (sort of) praise. 

“Of course it is. I have no reason to lie to you,” Iruka responded. Shukaku snorted but didn’t immediately launch into his speel about how all humans were deceivers, which was progress. 

“How long do you think it will take before those kids master projectile traps?” The bijuu asked, trying to sound casual. Iruka rolled his eyes. Every week, Shukaku would ask some questions about the kids’ progress in some area or another. Iruka had originally thought he was trying to get information that would help him break the seal but soon realized that made no sense. He hardly ever focused on seals, more interested in the various traps the kids were making. Eventually, Iruka realized this was Shukaku’s way of prolonging Iruka’s visits as well as learning more about the people he saw through Gaara every day. It made sense. He had been imprisoned inside Gaara for years and even a bijuu must get lonely sometimes. Iruka was his only real conversation partner since Gaara was understandably still hesitant about talking with the voice that had convinced him to kill people.

Gaara spent almost all of his time around Iruka, his siblings, and Maki. Shukaku fixated on them because he was most familiar with them and had learned that Iruka would go on forever when someone gave him the chance to brag about his kids. Mari and Pakura would tease him if he did so around them and Scorpion’s visits were never long enough plus he already saw everything the kids did. Shukaku saw most of it already too but seemed to enjoy hearing Iruka gush over their progress. It gave Iruka a good outlet and also made Shukaku more invested in their lives. Iruka had noticed that he used Temari’s and Kankuro’s real names more often than not and even sometimes Maki’s. Slowly but surely, Iruka was convincing him that not all humans were awful.

After hearing about Iruka's lesson plans for the next week and his praise for the kids for a while, the bijuu had had enough and flicked his tail at Iruka. “Alright, I’ve put up with your chatter long enough. Get out of here.”

Iruka laughed and stood up, “So same time next week?” he teased.

Shukaku huffed but didn’t protest. Iruka said his good-byes and left the void world.

Iruka opened his eyes and was back in his bedroom, with Gaara by his side. “Shukaku says hello,” Iruka told him. Gaara raised his eyebrow to express his skepticism since Shukaku was probably loudly proclaiming he said no such thing at that moment in Gaara's head.

Iruka just laughed and pulled Gaara down next to him. The red-head went willingly and curled up against Iruka’s chest. They lay there in silence for a few minutes before Gaara tugged at Iruka’s shirt to get his attention. “Iruka?”

“Yes, Gaara?” Iruka responded.

“I’m glad I met you,” Gaara told him before burying his face in Iruka’s shirt.

Iruka’s head came up to stroke the back of his head, “So am I, Gaara. So am I.”

Iruka continued to hold his child as Gaara’s breath evened out and he fell asleep. Iruka treasured these moments to see Gaara truly relax and experience sleep. Iruka closed his eyes and checked on the others. He felt the calm chakra of Temari, Kankuro, and Maki, indicating that they were all sleeping peacefully. On the roof, Scorpion’s calm chakra remained constant, watching over all of them. Iruka drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face, happy to be surrounded by his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ending was so cheesy but IT"S DONE!!! This has been a wild ride and I have enjoyed writing this story so much. Thank you to everyone who have left comments and kudos on this story and I truly hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it.
> 
> In case anyone is curious, I am not done with this universe. I plan to take a couple of weeks off and then start writing a story about Naruto's childhood without Iruka there to support him. So watch out for that if you are interested. I plan to bring Iruka, Gaara, & Co back in the fic after that.
> 
> In case anyone was wondering, I did not intentionally choose the name Mari because it was close to Maki. I honestly forgot what Maki's name was until I wanted to add her to the story. I had to be really careful in this last chapter to make sure I was typing the correct name each time.


End file.
